How is your imagination? Do you ever daydream? What do you imagine?
Former Beatle John Lennon wrote a song titled Imagine in the early 70's. The melody is beautiful, and it is one of the most popular songs he ever wrote. But while the melody may be beautiful, the lyrics paint a different picture. Listen to what Lennon had to say.
Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try;
No hell below us; above us only sky.
Imagine all the people, living for today.
Imagine there's no country. It isn't hard to do;
Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion, too.
Imagine all the people living life in peace.
One of Lennon's ideas was that the concept of God, Jesus, and religion got in the way of world peace; and in the final analysis, caused more bad than good. Karl Marx thought this very same way, and so have many other so-called brilliant philosophers over the centuries. Their idea was that if you rid the world of its ideas about God, Jesus, and religion, then the world would become a utopia. People working together in peace and perfect harmony would soon solve the world's problems.
When I put my imagination to work, I see something different. When I imagine no heaven it is a scary scene. As bad as things are in this world, imagine what it would be like if there was no God. If you spend much time imagining these kinds of things, it's frightening. I can't imagine peace without God. Imagining the world without God is depressing. Let's imagine something different.
I like to imagine the future. Growing up I liked reading popular science magazines. I also liked reading books by Isaac Asimov. His vision of what the future would be like intrigued me. One of my favorite things to imagine is what heaven will be like. Put your imagination to work. What do you imagine heaven is like?
Does the Bible have anything to say about our imagination? The Bible tells us in Ephesians 3:20 , "Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in us. By this power he can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine". I can imagine a lot of great things, but God can do infinitely more. Put your imagination to work. Whatever you imagined, God can do infinitely more.
I like to think about God. I study the Bible to learn more about him. Can I really understand him? In Isaiah 55:8,9 it reads "My thoughts are completely different from yours, says the LORD. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts".
God's ways are far beyond anything we can imagine. It seems my imagination is useless when it comes to God. One of my favorite texts is 1 Corinthians 2:9 where is says "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him".
Do you love God? God has prepared something so incredible that no human has ever even imagined it. There are people on this planet that have great imaginations. Look at some of the wonders of this world. The imaginations of artists, writers, architects are often spectacular, but they cannot imagine anything like heaven. Have you ever imagined what heaven will be like? Whatever you imagined doesn't even come close to what God has actually prepared for you.
Do you want to go to heaven? Why do you want to go there? I will tell you why I want to go. In John 14:1-3 Jesus tells us "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also".
Jesus had prepared a place for me, and he wants me to be there with him. That is why I want to go to heaven. I want to be where Jesus is. Jesus has also prepared a place for you. Do you want to be there with him? What will it be like when we see the place that Jesus has prepared for us? I can only imagine!
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Interesting that both you and Leslie both used Imagine in your post, but with a different take.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that there are people like you who believe in God. I cannot imagine a life without imagination. Everything God and Jesus have done for us is far beyond imagination, yet we all know that if we believe in God the world is a better place. If we obey Him and respect and honor our fellow human beings there won't be any war evermore.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post.
Wil, ABCW Team.
This. Is. Fabulous. I was nodding my head in agreement the entire way through your post. A world without God would be a world without his Universal Trust or Moral Law that is instilled in each of us...believer or not. I believe a world without God would be more chaotic than it is now. MercyMe is one of my favorite groups and Can Only Imagine is my favorite of all their songs. Thank you for this post.
ReplyDeleteA lovely post, Richard. Amen, and yet again, Amen.
ReplyDeleteI am a big believer in imagination. When I taught school I tried to give the kids lots of opportunities to use their own imagination and to explore lots of possibilities. - Margy
ReplyDeleteI'm with Lennon if you look around today people are imposing, killing and dying for religious beliefs and nationalism all over the world. Our own personal religious quest is of merit and indeed Lennon was a spiritual person but there are many paths to God, who is ultimately unknowable whether as in the Christian concept of heaven or eastern concept of Nirvana as the union with the divine. Lennon's song is a plea for tolerance and hope that we can imagine a better future for our beautiful blue planet.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting thoughts. "Imagine" is such a powerful song!
ReplyDeleteMy Father as he was dying was getting a gimpse of what he was going to inherit in just a few days!! He just kept saying "It's SO BEAUTIFUL".
ReplyDeleteAnn
I enjoyed reading your take on Lennon's song "Imagine."
ReplyDeleteLeslie
abcw team