14th August 2024
In our mind’s eye
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…
Ephesians 3:20 (NIV)
God has given us many gifts. Imagination is one of them – one that we don’t think about very often and so we don’t think to thank him for it. But it’s as much a part of our mind as emotion, reason and will. Like every gift, apart from the universal gift of life, some have more than others.
May I suggest that God himself has imagination? Our universe and our precious, pretty world did not exist until God used imagination and wisdom to conceive and design it in all its complexity, and bring it into reality.
It’s a powerful gift he has given to us. The creative imagination – the ability to conceive something that does not already exist – is the source of artistic endeavours and inventions. It makes it possible for us to have gifted people such as artists, musicians, writers, architects and inventors, who contribute to the wellbeing of our lives.
If we are reading a story which has come from the author’s imagination, it can come off the page and to life in our minds, through our imagination connecting with that of the writer’s. And it can help us with our Bible studies too. Using our imagination, we can get alongside those who inhabit the pages of the Book, who lived very different lives from us, in different times and different cultures. It can help us bring their journeys of faith to life.
And it comes into play in our everyday lives, helping us scale the wall of our differences. Imagination gives us the ability to assume the perspective of someone else we may not understand. It can enable us to think ourselves into other people’s places and therefore have empathy with them and their circumstances. Then we can rejoice with them or weep with them.
As we can see from the Header Scripture, like all our capacities, it has its limits. But nevertheless, it is a capacity we can harness in our Christian lives, and our walk with Christ.
Prayer
Our Father, thank you for the gift of imagination. May your Spirit guide us to use our gift to bring all that it is you and yours to life. Amen.
Study by Hilary Buck
About the writer:
Hilary Buck is a minister and pastors the Lewes congregation of Grace Communion International.
Local congregation:
Grace Communion in Lewes
The House of Friendship
208 High Street
Lewes
BN7 2NS
Meeting time:
Sunday 11:00 am
Local congregational contact:
Hilary Buck
Email: lewes@gracecom.church
Like us on www.facebook.com/Grace Communion Lewes
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church