We Don't Gaslight Those Who Believe

Yesterday we talked about the value of healthy doubt when it comes to the miraculous. Today, let’s remember what it means to honor the stories of those who have encountered the divine.

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” - Luke 2:15

The shepherds had a supernatural experience. There are lots of different descriptions of angels in the Bible, so we’re not exactly what they saw or heard, but it was clearly enough to convince them God had visited them, God had spoken, and God was up to something big.

Notice the first thing they do - they talk about it with each other. It wasn’t like any single one of them got to nail down what it was that just happened. You can imagine that there was some “Whoah, that was huge… did you see that?” kind of conversations going on. Imagine that you were the one shepherd who was off in the trees when this all happened and what it would have meant to come back to your crew and hear all of these stories. No doubt there would have been plenty of temptation for any of them to dismiss or minimize what they’d seen and heard. And perhaps there was some of that going on. But the key is what happened next.

The second thing they did was they made a plan and they acted on it. The miracle of the angels wasn’t just about the angels - it was about something more. So they took a risk and started walking. That’s the heart of every miracle in the long run - not to give us the warm fuzzies, but to draw us closer to Christ and to the Spirit’s mission in the world. And that’s exactly how the shepherds responded.

Do you know those who have had miraculous experiences with God? How have you treated them?

Have you had an experience with God? What has it looked like for you not to leave the miracle there but to act on it and take the next step?