For reasons I don’t fully understand, many Christians are committed to the idea that miracles, like these we see being performed through Paul, don’t happen anymore. They believe that at some point in time God stopped doing such miracles, so when they read passages like this they feel a great admiration for what God did during that early stage of church history, but feel no responsibility to try to do similar things today.

There is another group of Christians who will tend to skip over a passage like this, not because they don’t believe it or think such things are still possible, but because it stirs up deep emotions they don’t want to feel. Seeing miracles happen for others only reminds them of miracles that didn’t happen for them or someone they love. It raises the painful question of “why?” And there are also those who’ve grown quietly cautious. In the past they allowed their expectations to be raised to a high level only to end up disappointed and embarrassed. They didn’t become angry or unbelieving, just confused and tired of trying.

Knowing these things, and sometimes feeling the same emotions, I wanted to politely skip past these verses and move on. But I felt that displeased the Lord. Instead, He wanted us to look deeply at how He used Paul in Ephesus, so He could release us from confusion and condemnation, and teach us how to embrace more of His power, without ending up frustrated.