Some things are almost beyond belief. “You’ll believe a man can fly,” said the blurb advertising the first “Superman” movie. But few really did. Not without a maybe in a movie, but in real life it was almost beyond belief.
“It’s almost beyond belief!” is what you might say if a thing you never dreamed could happen suddenly did. Like, someone you didn’t even know died, leaving you a huge fortune. That such a thing could happen had never entered your head, much less crossed your mind.
Some people view God’s miracles from a shrinking circle of doubt. The smaller the circle shrinks the more distant miracles become. But for those who believe that faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” miracles are not outside but inside the circle. And the more their faith grows, the bigger the circle becomes and the more it encloses. Things that once seemed impossible become possible. But what makes the circle expand for some and shrink for others?
It starts in the heart. “With the heart man believes unto righteousness…” (Romans 10:10) The NT Greek word translated “unto” (“eis”) is a preposition that has “the primary idea of motion, into or toward any place or thing” writes New Testament Greek scholar Spiros Zodhiates. He writes of Romans 10:10 as figurative, “marking the object or point toward which anything ends”. The word “end” is righteousness” and the word “unto” is transitive, in that it conveys the thought of transition into a state of justification. (Today we say “into” rather than the Old English “unto” of the King James Version.)
In Romans 10:8 Paul writes of “the word we speak” – the declaration we make – as being not distant but in the mouth and in the heart. We declare that Jesus is Lord with the mouth, in our heart believing that God raised him from the dead. What we believe in our heart we declare with our mouth. What we desire is as near to us as the faith in our heart – we just need to put it into words. (Paul is referring to righteousness but the same applies also to divine healing and miracles.)
So it’s not a matter of seeking to expand your circle of faith to receive a miracle, but rather to declare it yours in words. The miracle is not distant – the miracle is in your mouth! Distance does matter, but the distance between the mouth and the heart is what matters most.
The Pharisees worshipped God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. It’s not what we say but what we believe that counts! A faith confession should not be a mantra in our mouth but a belief that’s so heartfelt we just have to declare it!
Nothing about God or Jesus is beyond belief. I do not believe “a man can fly”, as in the case of the fictional Superman, but I do believe that Jesus ascended into heaven after rising from among the dead! This is not beyond belief — his resurrection and ascension into heaven is basic to my belief!
My faith is not shrinking, but my unbelief is so distant it’s almost out of sight. Yours can be, too. Don’t accept my word that it can happen – accept God’s word and it will happen!