If you had to say who had the greatest imagination in the history of the world, whom would you say?
No, it was not John Lennon, Michelangelo, Disney, Steve Jobs or the many infomercial geniuses of the world. It was and is Jesus. No ever appealed to the human imagination like Jesus. Think about this… Jesus who walked among ordinary people is also the Creator of the human imagination. He gives us all the ability to think or to imagine…
To him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. Ephesians 3:20
Jesus imagined a different kind of kingdom, a real magic kingdom. A kingdom where the last are first and the least are the greatest, where the servants are the heroes and the weak are made strong. A kingdom where the marginalized are loved, accepted and cherished.
His kingdom is a world where outsiders become insiders and where people who lose their lives end up finding them. A kingdom where people who die to themselves and their junk and their guilt and their sin and their selfishness end up actually being brought to life.
Imagine a God who opens his arms to tax collectors, prostitutes and spiritual losers. Imagine a heavenly Father who loves so deeply that he celebrates and dances with joy every time a rebellious son or daughter comes home and throws themselves at the Father’s feet.
Then imagine along with Jesus how a church can be an authentic community, a family that embraces every culture, every ethnic group, every individual, rich or poor, smart or uneducated. Not only had no community like this ever existed on the planet, the idea of such a community never existed before him. It was his idea. He thought it up.
Then in the most unimaginable moment in human history, Jesus died on a cross to take on all the sins of the world, all the pain, guilt and death that now crushes humanity? He did it. Then they put his body in a tomb, and three days later He rose. He did it. He got up, and death and life has never been the same since.
After he got up from that grave and gathered a motley crew of uneducated, unconnected,
and under resourced followers, and said, there’s more. There’s more than this life and there’s more than death. I will send my Holy Spirit to led and guide you forever and ever and beyond the forgiveness of your sins I’m going to throw in a new community of brothers and sisters that will be a family to you?
You’re going to be sent out, scattered all over the world and some of you will be martyred. Of course, death can’t stop this dream. This movement, this community, is just going to keep spreading until it reaches more people in more places, embraces more cultures, and shapes more lives than any movement in human history. Then he did that.
It actually happened, and here we are. Faith is among other things, an act of the imagination. The Bible says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
That means God is looking for what-if people, because there’s more. When I come to realize that God is doing something so much bigger than my little life and that He wants me to join Him in seeing His dream fulfilled, my heart says yes! So imagine with me what God can do with ordinary people like you and I. Imagine a church, where Christ followers really love people into His kingdom. Imagine with me a …
Imagine as you go across the finish line of heaven there are people saying, “Jesus, this person right here is part of why I’m before you in heaven. This person right here noticed me and cared about me. I was hungry, and they fed me. I was lonely, and they visited me. I was …” You could play a part in that. It’s up to you, will you imagine with me?
