Imagine the Possibilities

By:  Dale Weckbacher

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

(ESV)

Satan committed the first theft on earth when he stole the abundant intimate relationship with God enjoyed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  In Genesis 3:8 we see Adam and Eve hiding from God as He walked in the Garden.  The reason Adam and Eve must now hide is due to their sin.  Prior to this, they most likely could freely walk and have intimate fellowship with God their creator.  In John 10:10, Jesus is speaking of this theft by Satan and asserting that he has come to restore what was stolen from humanity.  However, there is another theft occurring in our society today, the theft of our imaginations. 

I recently went with my family to see the new Wonder Woman movie.  The movie was very entertaining and has done extremely well at the box office.  One of the things that I believe made the movie entertaining and a success was the very realistic appearing special effects.  I have nothing against the use of these special effects and marvel, no pun intended, at the technology making these effects possible.  However, with the use of these effects one does not have to engage their imagination, making our imaginations lazy.

In the time of Christ, people did not have the benefit of movie special effects and when they heard a story told by someone, had to engage their imagination.  Jesus frequently used parables in his teaching to engage the imaginations of people so they would have a picture in their minds of what was being taught.  In addition, messianic prophecies like Isaiah53 and Psalm 22 provide a word picture of what a crucifixion would look like if one will only engage their imagination. 

While we do not physically see Jesus in the flesh today, we have the written accounts of his ministry, the events preceding his coming that formed the nation of Israel from which Messiah would come, and the written accounts of the early church formed from those that walked with Christ when he was on the earth.  However, if we do not engage our imagination and picture these events as we read them, we will have trouble interpreting their meaning for our lives today. 

Let us therefore take a moment to exercise our God given imaginations by,

1)      Imagining walking with Jesus when he ministered on earth – Imagine for a moment seeing Jesus opening the eyes of the man blind from birth (John 9:1-7).  Imagine seeing Jesus cast a legion of devils into a herd of swine and seeing those possessed swine drown (Matthew 8:28-34).  Imagine seeing Lazarus raised from the dead (John 11:38-44).  Finally, imagine seeing Jesus alive after seeing his brutal death on the cross. 

2)      Imagine being present in the Upper Room (Acts2:1-13) – Prior to going to be with His Father, Jesus commanded his followers to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from on high (Acts 1:4-5).  It would have been easy for those that walked with Jesus to lose faith after seeing him leave them and simply go back to the previous life but God would have none of that and instead, in dramatic fashion, sent his Holy Spirit to baptize them in the Upper Room, giving them a taste of God’s awesome power.  By taking a moment to imagine this event we too can have a visual image of God’s awesome power present within us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

3)      Imagine what the world will be like when Jesus returns – Revelation 20-22 describes both the millennial 1000-year reign of Christ upon the earth and the new heaven and earth after that time.  As we look out at the world today we see violence, anger, and confusion.  We see lifestyles that once were abhorrent to society portrayed as main stream in our media.  Without using our imaginations spurred by the words of the last three chapters of the Book of Revelation, it is easy for us as Christians to become depressed or discouraged.  When we begin to feel this way about what we see going on around us, we must do as the Apostle Paul encouraged us to do, comfort one another with the words about Jesus’ second coming (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). 

God gave us an imagination.  Let us not allow Satan to steal it from us but to instead use it to imagine the abundant life Jesus intends for us to enjoy (John 10:10).