catapult magazine

catapult magazine
 

Vol 12, Num 4 :: 2013.02.15 — 2013.02.28

 
 

Im - ag - i - na - tion

Im • ag • i • na • tion

/iˌmajəˈnāSHən/

Noun

1.     The faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses: “a vivid imagination”.

2.     The ability of the mind to be creative or resourceful.

Synonyms: fancy – fantasy – idea – vision

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28)

I believe we are all Imago Dei, in the “image of God.”  Genesis says that we are created in God’s image: male and female, He created us and He said it was good.  In the Hebrew, God says “tov, tov” — “good, good” — which we translate as “very good.”  It also says that God created everything by speaking it into existence.  Based on the above definition, God has tremendous capacity for imagination.  Consider the incredible variety of life on this planet.

In the 1800’s, Europeans introduced the world to their mania for classification.  Find it, kill it, stuff it and name it for your mother-in-law in Latin. Yet despite 200 years plus of actively trying to count and classify, God’s variety defies us yet.  No matter how big and cosmic we go or tiny and electron-microscopic we go, creation is still revealing a variety beyond our imagination.

Yet we, in our little finite way, are still Imago Dei and so while we can’t classify or control, we must create.  We are given the task of stewarding what God created and by making us in His image, He tasked us with imagining as well, dreaming dreams and seeing visions of what could be when we embrace who we are in God.

Jesus categorized the Pharisee’s lack of imagination as a failure of faith.  They wanted to classify and control, but Jesus was filled with the Spirit and cast a vision that blew their minds.  They could not conceive of a messiah who would eat with sinners, condemn their sins, and love the whole world so much that He was willing to die for it. Now that’s creative!

John Lennon notwithstanding, I imagine a world that is both heaven and hell, full of people longing not for “religion,” but relationship with the everlasting creator God — a God who will never cease to blow our minds.

Amen, and come quickly, sweet Lord Jesus!

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