The Sanctified Imagination

Why did God create our imaginations? Our ability to dream, to make up stories, to play make believe?
Surely if He made it and put it in us He intends that we should use it as we interact with Him.

Sometimes though, we're scared to engage our imaginations when we pray or read Scripture because we fear our creativity will push us into the realm of heresy. We might create a make believe Bible-ish scenario that contradicts what Scripture teaches and so... well we just don't even want to go there.

The result is often a flat and one-dimensional faith. We read our Bibles but never glean anything that captures our hearts or minds because our hearts and minds are simply not engaged. We are not grabbed by anything (but our grocery-list-in-progress) when we come to the Lord, because we put more imagination into what we're cooking for dinner than we do into what it must have felt like to be lowered down a city wall in a basket with the enemy army close behind. Or a Hebrew child watching our first blood sacrifice in the Temple courtyard.

Years might even be spent in the Kingdom wondering if this is really all there is to Christianity and secretly yawning behind our devotional books. May it never be!

Of course we need to be on our guard against false teaching and trying to twist the Bible to say things that it doesn't say. Lots of preachers, teachers and Bible readers fall into that. It's the nature of our flesh. But I think we're missing out on a gigantic portion of the thriller/romance/drama/suspense/horror/comedy/poem that our Lord desires to share with us. He is, after all, the world's greatest storyteller.

Let's approach the Scriptures with sanctified imaginations. With our creativity primed and at the ready, submitted to the leading and correction of the Holy Spirit. Praying before we jump into the action, asking the Lord to keep us from making up our own comfortable truth- but at the same time to engage all of our senses, all those parts of us that love a good role play, and every fiber of our story-loving spirits.

And then let's imagine how it must have been to...

Free Bible Study

If you want access to a free Bible study series I (Sandi) wrote that you can use with SPS, you can find one at bible.org, (a great place to get such resources). The topic is: Your Worth in Christ, and it explores how precious you are to God. Here are the topics and links:

Defaced But Not Erased (Lesson 1)
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (Lesson 2)
Adopted as God’s Child (Lesson 3)
Disciplined as God’s Child (Lesson 4)
Restored and Rejoiced Over as God’s Child (Lesson 5)
Justified, Sanctified, and Headed for Glory (Lesson 6)
Broken but Usable For His Glory (Lesson 7)

Put It in Your Pocket

In the current issue of the 3.1.6 Journal, SoulPerSuit is featured in miniature.
Teeny.
Tiny.
Abbreviated.
Pocket-sized, if you will.
They say good things come in small packages, right?


Pocket SoulPerSuit is a one passage, one page interaction with the Scriptures. Much like a full-length SoulPerSuit, Pocket SoulPerSuit uses a passage of the Bible (in this case, nine verses from the book of Mark) and a handful of thought-provoking questions to allow you to explore yourself, your Lord, and your creative medium of choice: All against the backdrop of Scripture.

This is a wonderful spiritual "bridge" for the Holidays. Most Bible Studies and adult Sunday Schools don't reconvene until January. Many of us are eyeing 2008 as the year we want to delve deeper into the Scriptures. The next full-length SoulPerSuit session is a few months away. So here's your opportunity to take a spiritual step forward and bridge the gap between 2007 and 2008. Try the Pocket SoulPerSuit.

Click below to order your 3.1.6. subscription and get your hands on the Pocket SPS. You can choose either a paper copy or a pdf. file.

(And of course, it always thrills us to see what you create, so send me your Pocket SPS results at soulpererin at yahoo dot com, and I'll post a pocket-sized gallery here on SoulPerBlog to showcase your creations.)