John 4:46-54
46So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."49The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." 50Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." 53The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." And he himself believed, and all his household. 54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
Do we want Jesus or do we want signs? Are we like the people who God rebukes in this passage for looking for signs? Do we want God or just what he can do for us? Are we praying because we want to grow in our relationship with God or because we “need” something to happen? Are we attending church because we want to worship god with others or because we think it makes it more likely that God will do something for us?
The man in this passage ends up believing in Jesus along with all his family, because he looked at what the sign was pointing to. Signs are only useful to us if we look beyond the sign, if we look at what the sign is pointing to! Jesus!
We tend to be on the look out for signs that we think show God’s approval. If a bad thing has happened, God must be unhappy because of something I did. If something is going well, God must be pleased with. That is paganism, not Christianity. Our circumstances are not a sign of our acceptance with God. God says the sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt 5:45). If I am a christian I am certain about God’s approval. Why? Because of the ultimate sign - the cross. Jesus went to the cross for you. His position towards you doesn’t not change, regardless of whether things are going well or not, whether we feel like we are doing well or not. The cross is the sign of His love towards us.