The imagination is a wonderful gift that we have been given that connects us with the mind of God. The Spirit speaks to us in our imaginations. Children seem to naturally have active imaginations. As we grow older and become more "educated", we tend to use our imaginations less and less. Such a natural observation brings possible new meaning to Jesus’ proclamation, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Everyone has used their imagination negatively by worrying. But Jesus clearly declares in the Sermon on the Mount that we should not worry, but rather cast our cares upon God. Many people use their imaginations wrongly by fantasizing about physical pleasures, sometimes in adulterous ways. We must repent of the misuse of imagination, and instead do good with it! The Bible shows us that we should use the same process in a positive way, based on God's Word. Seeing something by the "eye of faith" is akin to imagining it. Paul asserts in 2 Corinthians 5:7: “We walk by faith, not by sight,” or, as Peterson paraphrases it, “It is the things that we do not see that keep us going.” He had hit on the theme earlier, in 2 Corinthians 4:18: “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen eternal.
How can we look at things which are not seen? By using our imagination for God’s glory! Time and again, throughout the Bible, we see people who use their imagination; and they “see" what was not visible to others. Chapter eleven of Hebrews, the great Hall of Faith chapter, is filled with such stories of heroes of the faith. Faith is linked with imagination, and the accomplishment of God’s mission is dependent upon this combination again and again.
The Bible helps us, enables us, to understand, to re-appropriate, to celebrate the role of the imagination as part of our redeemed, renewed, image-bearing humanness. We need imagination to live in God's world. We need to encourage the good and right use of imagination. Like all things God gives us, it should be used for good, but it can be used for bad. Often imagination runs riot in the wrong direction, and folks start imagining the wrong things. But for every instance of imagination that has become inherently ugly, there are instances of the right use of our imaginations for God. It is a joyful thing to see the imagination unleashed for God’s glory!
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