“What is 3R Thursday?”

3R Thursday is a short devotional written by Cole F. Watson that contains Ramblings, Ruminations, and Reflections published most Thursdays to equip Christians with practical theology and Biblical philosophy.

Soli Deo Gloria ✝️ 

Foundational Framework 📖 

Previous devotionals can be read here. ⬅️ 

Now up, forward, and through 🤝 

3R THURSDAY: Wildflowers, Wine, and W. E. Watson

Miracles happen everyday.

The issue is that we take them for granted.

A few months ago, the grass was dead.

Now there are pinks, whites, yellows, blues, and oranges all over the place.

We expect this change because it’s “spring” and we received lots of rain since January.

An astute reader might respond, “Duh, Cole. Time and water, along with the proper seed and soil conditions, are how wildflowers grow. As we learned in Logic 101, these are ‘necessary conditions’ for the wildflowers.”

Good point, good friend.

So take these “necessary conditions” as a given, but isolate the factor of time.

Suppose, then, that we had the proper rain, sunshine, seed, soil, etc. but rather than taking 3 weeks for a wildflower to bloom, it took 3 seconds.

That’d be pretty neat, huh? Dare I say “miraculous?”

The doctors said my son’s body needed time to heal from double pneumonia (already exacerbated by lung-scaring RSV and hereditary asthma/allergies—thanks, Kels 🙄 ).

The doctors said they could only help facilitate his healing with high-flow oxygen, antibiotics, steroids, breathing treatments, and grossly overpriced doohickies to bill insurance at 10x the MSRP.

But rather than take 1 month for my son to recover, it took 1 week.

I’d argue that this is miraculous.

Miracles are natural phenomena in which God shortens the time necessary for these phenomena to take place.

Take wine for example.

Water turns to wine all the time; that’s how wine has been made since at least Noah’s time. See Genesis 9:21.

But when Jesus turned water into wine in an instant—we call this a miracle. See John 2:1-11.

Ask any pseudo-sommelier about how wine is made.

Grape seeds are planted.

Rain nourishes the soil.

The seed sprouts. Vines grow. Grapes blossoms.

Grapes are harvested and liquified.

Yeast is added. Fermentation begins.

The sugar in the grape juice is converted to alcohol and carbon dioxide.

The byproduct (now “wine”) is filtered and refined before being barreled, bottled, and bibbed.

By all means effort is required, by time is a necessary factor for water to become wine.

When Jesus converted water into wine in an instant, he performed a miracle whereby he shortened the time required for this natural phenomenon of turning water into wine.

Jesus simply shortened the time necessary to perform this naturally occurring phenomenon, ultimately displaying his absolute authority in heaven and on earth. See Matthew 28:18.

Go back to my son’s stay in the hospital.

Medical professionals exerted effort. No doubt about that.

But the his body required time to heal according to every MD, DO, RN, NP, PA, RT, and ABCDEF that cared for him.

When my son was healed in a much shorten time horizon than reasonably expected—especially in light of the outpouring of prayers (thank you all)—I have full faith and confidence that God miraculously healed my son.

Why?

Because Jesus simply shortened the time necessary for this healing to take place.

And, Christian, we shouldn’t balk at this or be surprised when Jesus answers our prayers pertaining to healing.

Why?

Jesus healed people all the time—instantaneously:

• Healing of a leper: Jesus compassionately touches and heals a man with leprosy. Matthew 8:1-3, Mark 1:40-42, and Luke 5:12-13.

• Healing of the centurion’s servant: Jesus heals a Roman centurion’s gravely ill servant from a distance, praising the centurion's faith. Matthew 8:5-13 and Luke 7:1-10.

• Healing of Peter's mother-in-law: Jesus heals her of a fever by touching her hand. Matthew 8:14-15, Mark 1:30-31, and Luke 4:38-39.

• Healing of the paralytic: Jesus forgives and heals a paralytic lowered through the roof by his friends. Matthew 9:1-8, Mark 2:1-12, and Luke 5:17-26.

• Healing of the man with a withered hand: Jesus heals a man's shriveled hand. Matthew 12:9-13, Mark 3:1-6, and Luke 6:6-11,

• Healing of the woman with an issue of blood: Jesus heals a woman suffering from prolonged bleeding. Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, and Luke 8:43-48.

• Healing of the blind man: Jesus restores sight. Mark 10:46-52 and Luke 18:35-43.

• Healing of the man born blind: Jesus heals a man who had been blind from birth, using mud and saliva. John 9:1-12.

• Healing of the man at Bethesda - Jesus heals a man who had been invalid for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda. John 5:1-15.

I encourage you to look for the miracles in your life; to rejoice in the miracles that I’m sure you’ve already experienced as a Christian. We serve a living God; the one, true God that loves us. We were created to reflect His glory and to praise Him for the works He has done—and is doing. God still performs miracles, and I pray that you would experience this miracles—especially those of healing—in your own life.

Hope you have a blessed week.

See you next Thursday,
CFW

P.S. If this encouraged you, please share with a friend.