IMAGINE: RESTORED!

Hosea 6:1-9:17; 3 John 1-15; Psalm 126:1-6; Proverbs 29:12-14

“In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence. Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”

“Dear friend, I hope all is well with you and that you are as healthy in body as you are strong in spirit. Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth. I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth.”

“Restore our fortunes, Lord, as streams renew the desert. Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.”

“If a ruler pays attention to liars, all his advisers will be wicked.”

Restored! It is hard to imagine a more hopeful, helpful word in our lexicon. Everything returns to the way it was supposed to be, the way God intended it from the beginning. There is no separation between the Creator and His Creation. The world – and all the people in it – work as designed, connected by the Spirit to each other and to God. It is an awesome thought just to consider. To actually experience it, well, that would be the epitome. I’ve got to confess that, in my mind, it’s also sort of a “reach exceeds your grasp” sort of thing, an aspirational goal not logically capable of ever being achieved in this lifetime, anyway. However, even as I am writing this, Christ reminds me again that my opinions about spiritual facts aren’t worth much. They can certainly be stumbling blocks, and give rise to eroding doubt. However, only the Creator of reality truly understands it in all its complex dimensions, and if He says restoration is possible, then that’s the fact, Jack!

So, the next question follows as naturally as day follows night. What’s keeping me from being fully restored? Well, DUH! Let’s start with doubt. I don’t push the spiritual envelope, don’t really trust the Spirit with my life or my dignity, because my faith is limited. Oh, let’s be really clear: I just don’t believe I will ever have the authority, power or courage to be completely sold out to God. Sadly, what I do believe in my heart of hearts (almost to the point of fooling myself into believing that I actually know) is that if I push too far spiritually, I will fail. What an unfortunate and dangerous place to be! Neither totally hot nor totally cold, my lukewarm belief (far divorced from actual faith) creates a false, alternative “reality.” It has nothing to do with facts but is wholly defined, and so corrupted, by my opinions. Even sadder, because it is consumed by a vision of a future which has not happened yet, it by definition cannot have anything to do with facts. I am stymied by fear of a phantom future I can only imagine. I am defeated by hypotheticals before I really even give Christ a chance. Oh, good grief, what a waste of emotion and imagination, to say nothing of energy and enthusiasm!

Maybe, though, if imagination can so thoroughly mislead us, it can also be harnessed for good. I’ve always marveled at the early martyrs, the Peters, Pauls and Stephens. They obviously did it; they got there. They were recreated in the power of the Holy Spirit from the ground up. I don’t try to emulate them because I think I cannot imagine ever being like them. The Spirit wants to know why, in His Power, I couldn’t be like them. What’s really stopping me? There are no facts which would so limit the Lord’s Power. I’m guessing, then, that it’s about time to change the way I think.

We can – and do - imagine ourselves as great athletes, master professionals, wealthy, handsome and all their counterparts with ease. Heck, some of us can still imagine ourselves as superheroes, for goodness’ sake! There is no just reason we cannot change the way we think or the way we look at ourselves or Jesus. We can be restored! Moreover, we can be heroes of the Kingdom! C. S. Lewis was fond of saying that all humans tend to become what they imagine themselves to be, what they imitate. I say it a little differently, as in “fake it ‘till you make it.” We begin restoration by imagining ourselves to be as Jesus saw us when He died for us. Worth loving. Worth dying for. Whether we feel like it or not. Then, we just let Him in. That’s the ticket. He’ll reveal the rest in His own good time. Except for one thing. Many of us have a serious case of the “don’wannas.” We won’t imagine ourselves as great disciples, because we don’t want to, not because we can’t.

If we’re ever going to get serious about this restoration thing, we have to first confess our hearts to ourselves, as much as to the Lord. We need to be honest about who and what we want to be. Then, we need to begin to harness our imaginations. We can be much better than we are. In the power of Christ, there are no limits.