God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. (Col. 1:19)
I HAVE A FRIEND who was in a car accident that might have been fatal; to her amazement, she experienced a tangible sensation of being pushed out of harm’s way—and was spared. And yet my friend does not believe in God. When I asked her how she explains such a dramatic experience, she said, “It was a powerful force of good. That’s all.” God, in her mind, is not a personal being, and Jesus was just a man. She prays but believes the gesture to be simply warm wishes or good karma.
For many of us who do have faith in God, my friend’s statement may feel disheartening. But we might actually be closer to her practice than we think. We experience miracles and then assign logical explanations to the experiences. We pray but don’t expect any answers and hardly consider to whom we’re directing our thoughts. We go to church but don’t ask the Spirit to transform our hearts. We may even claim Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior but live as if He doesn’t exist.
God is almighty, all powerful. And He “was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [Jesus]” (Col. 1:19). In other words, He made himself human so we can have a personal relationship with Him. If we really believed—with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength—what might happen?
Acknowledge how God has been present in your life.
Heather Gemmen Wilson is the author of the Global Warning Series (Wesleyan Publishing House), a fiction series for preteens. She is married to a Wesleyan pastor and together they have six children.
