What’s a miracle? I think there’s more than one way to look at that question. There’s more than one way to experience miracles.

A dictionary definition of miracle is “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.” 

Whoops. Right off the bat, this definition seems to tell me that the way I frequently experience miracles isn’t valid, because I’m a nature guy. I see miracles in the very nature that conforms to scientific laws. 

Look, for instance, at the beauty of a winter sunrise. It takes my breath away, but it shouldn’t. It’s no miracle, because the sunrise is just a ball of hydrogen and helium 865,370 miles in diameter with a core temperature of 27 million degrees Fahrenheit coming up over the mountains like it does every day in conformity to well-understood physical laws. Nothing to see here. No divine agency, right?

Let’s not be silly! I feel more fully alive in front of that sunrise, or when I stand before the ocean or any other miracle of God’s creation. That’s undeniable. I feel transformed. The magnificence of creation connects me to the Creator and stirs in me an awe that draws me closer to my God. 

Now, is that a miracle? This everyday definition of a miracle might not work for all people. Many will insist that real miracles need to be supernatural—and honestly, I believe those happen, too. Maybe what’s important about miracles isn’t what causes them, but what they cause in us. They cause us to draw closer to our God.

In the Bible, Jesus performs dozens of miracles. They can be broken down into four basic types: healings, exorcisms, resurrections, and control of nature. We don’t have the scientific information (because the Bible is not a science book) to determine whether what Jesus did was “in conformity with nature.” It hardly matters, since we know why Jesus undertook his ministry of miracles and wonders. He did it to draw people closer to God the Father.

Stories of Christ’s miracles were and are told everywhere. They were meant to bring people to faith in Biblical times and they continue to increase people’s faith today. The miracle stories cause us to look more closely at Jesus, because they are shocking. And when we look closely at Christ, we see that Jesus himself is a miracle. We see the presence of God in a person like us. The Creator in his creation. And we know we are not alone.

Look, there are a lot of ways to define a miracle. Maybe you were saved from an accident. Maybe a neighbor received incredible healing. Perhaps you have known peace in the midst of terrible strife. Maybe the presence of a friend in your life is the miracle. Maybe it’s your children, or the love of your partner, or your parents. In some way, I believe, Christ is participating in any miracle you can name. 

This I promise you—if, like Jesus, you participate in God’s work; if you let yourself be used as the hands and feet of Christ in this world which knows so much fear and suffering; then you will see miracles. 

If you act in love, you will be the salt of the world. You will be fishers of men. You will be many things that are “not explicable by natural or scientific laws” and you will draw closer to God.