Super-Supernaturalism

From J.I. Packers In Step With the Spirit:

Super-supernaturalism.”  This is my word for that way of affirming the supernatural which exaggerates its discontinuity with the natural.  Reacting against flat-tire version of Christianity, which play down the supernatural and so do not expect to see God at work, the super-supernaturalist constantly expects miracles of all sorts—striking demonstrations of God’s presence and power—and he is happiest when he thinks he sees God acting contrary to the nature of things, so confounding common sense.  For God to proceed slowly and by natural  means is to him a disappointment, almost a betrayal.  But his undervaluing of the natural, regular, and ordinary shows him to be romantically immature and weak in his grasp of the realities of creation and providence as basic to God’s work of grace.

It’s easy to play it safe and expect God to do nothing out of the ordinary so that you never risk being disappointed.  But it’s just as easy to think that you’re letting God “out of the box” by negating the things God does in an “ordinary” way because they’re somehow less spiritual.  Your monthly paycheck is just as much a miracle as a healing that the doctor’s can’t explain.  Enjoying the times that God does one and not the other is actually shortchanging God’s miracles - all you’re really doing is telling Him that you’re hard to impress and counting that as a win.

I know, because I’m a recovering super-supernaturalist.  In my experience, it’s better to stop rating how impressive God’s actions are and just treat everything like the miracle it is.  (Plus, it’s a lot easier to expect miraculous healings and such when you’re accustomed to God performing miracles every day).

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1 Comment

  • Chris Morris
  • August 16th, 2009
  • 11:53 pm

Thanks for this reminder, Brian. You’re right, God performs miracles every day (life and breath and everything).

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