This is part of my year-long series exploring human-centered alternatives to the spiritual promises in Oswald Chambers’ classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. Today’s entry, “The Mystery of Believing”, promises that believers can experience instant spiritual transformation through “the miracle of the redemption,” claiming that when “Jesus Christ appears” to someone, they must choose total obedience or risk “signing the death warrant of the Son of God” in their soul.
Here’s what waiting for miraculous transformation through encountering Jesus actually delivered:
“When Christ appears to you, everything changes in a moment,” the revival evangelist declared with electric intensity. “You’ll experience the miracle of redemption. Choose total obedience, or you’ll sign the death warrant of God’s Son in your soul.”
Jake had hit absolute rock bottom with heroin addiction—stealing from family, lying constantly, living on the streets. His sister brought him to this revival meeting promising instant transformation through encountering Jesus. Surely divine encounter would break his addiction and create immediate obedience to God.
Jake desperately wanted this supernatural transformation. He went forward during the altar call, prayed for Jesus to appear to him, waited for the promised instant change from addict to devoted slave of the Lord. The miracle of redemption would solve what years of struggle couldn’t.
But the miraculous transformation was a cruel fantasy.
Jake left the revival feeling temporarily inspired but returned to using drugs within days. His addiction continued despite multiple spiritual encounters and repeated altar calls. The instant obedience that was supposed to flow from meeting Jesus remained completely absent when he needed it most.
Meanwhile, Jake’s friend Maria approached recovery with zero expectation of miraculous redemption. When Maria’s alcoholism destroyed her marriage and career, she didn’t wait for divine encounters but entered a residential treatment program that addressed addiction as a medical and psychological condition requiring sustained intervention.
Maria’s recovery involved no instant transformation or divine appearances. She worked through the twelve steps with a sponsor, attended daily group therapy, learned practical coping strategies, rebuilt her life gradually through evidence-based treatment and community support.
When Jake finally entered the same treatment program after his third overdose, he discovered that recovery required daily choices, professional guidance, ongoing support—not miraculous transformation through encountering Jesus.
Where was the instant spiritual transformation that meeting Christ was supposed to provide? Where was the miracle of redemption that would create total obedience and break his addiction?
The sustained sobriety that actually worked came through human community and medical intervention, not divine encounters. Jake’s breakthrough came when he stopped waiting for spiritual miracles and started using proven recovery methods that addressed addiction’s neurological and psychological components.
The transformation that mattered wasn’t supernatural but practical—learning to live without substances through human support, evidence-based treatment, and gradual rebuilding of healthy life patterns.
The silence where miraculous redemption was supposed to manifest revealed the truth: there was no divine encounter creating instant obedience. Only human methods and community support that actually worked when consistently applied over time.
Reflection Question: When has gradual change through professional treatment been more effective than seeking instant transformation through spiritual encounters?
This story is part of my upcoming book “The Undevoted: Daily Departures from Divine Dependence,” which offers 365 human-centered alternatives to the spiritual certainties in Chambers’ devotional. Each day explores how reason, community, and human resilience can address life’s challenges without requiring divine intervention.
God or Delusion? 