A Call for a Holy Imagination

Imagination. For some, this can be a touchy word in Christian circles. Not all appreciate the tales of Lewis and Tolkien that bring Christian truth to bear on our lives through use of imaginary stories. Others are wary of an imagination that runs wild in the things of Scripture, putting forward more conjecture than fact. Some go further and cannot envision how living by a factual religion and fostering an imagination can possibly coexist. If we are people of the Book, then we should stick to facts rather than imagination. It is a word that has stirred up strong feelings in conversation before now.

Whatever the benefit of fantasy stories or imagining scenes from the Scriptures (many a debate has been had about shows like “The Chosen”), it is a slightly different type of imagination that I want to commend to you today. It is the imagination that is birthed by an active living by faith. It is the imagination that I believe is set forth to us as an example in Scripture, and Christian history, that we should strive to imitate.

An army stands one side of a valley. Their knees knocking, their hands shaking. A giant towers, thunders, taunts. Day after day, no letting up, and no one has the faintest idea how this enemy might be overcome. No one imagines that a man of normal stature could face up to him. No one even tries out the king’s armour on the off chance that they might be able to defeat this foe in hand-to-hand combat. Bravery is an issue, yes. But faith is a much bigger issue, and especially a faith infused with imagination.

Along comes a shepherd boy. To him the question is not if the giant will fall, but how. He hears of the problem, he hears of the prize, and his ears prick up. He starts asking questions, inquiring, letting his mind run a bit. When challenged by the king he points out that he has seen the Lord deliver him and his sheep from animals, so he has no problem envisaging the Lord delivering him and the sheep of Israel from the hand of Goliath. It is as if by faith that he can already see the colossus collapsing. Sure, he will try out the armour. Perhaps God will give him victory by that means. Doesn’t fit? Never mind, maybe it will be a stone from a brook! After all, why not. One is as likely as the other. Faith sees that the Lord will deliver. Faith-fuelled imagination sees David reaching for a small stone.

Musicians play their fanfare. And without hesitation the crowds fall on their faces, paying homage and worship to the golden image before them. All but a few. Word gets out that three Jews refuse to worship, and they are summoned before the incensed king for their insolent and rebellious ways. The ultimatum is issued them: When the music plays you will either worship or burn. What is their reply?

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

“Our God is able to deliver us… but even if he does not, we will not bow.” They believe that obedience in hope of future reward is far better. After all, God has promised such. So regardless of the outcome, obedience is their duty. Faith sees God’s promise to honour their obedience. Imagination-fuelled faith can make statements like they did, seeing various paths of God’s acting on their behalf. If… or even if not…

Some will want to argue that faith is built on facts, and this is true. We read in God’s word that X is true and will happen. Believing that is faith. But how will it happen? That is imagination-fuelled faith. One might even say that an active faith necessarily must be imagination-infused.

The book of Hebrews constantly points its readers back to the Word that they have heard, for fear of drifting from it. Faith, in the mind of the author, is a clinging to the promises that they have already heard. The certain realities that have been revealed through God’s living Word. Hence why he can say that faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. He then proceeds with the honour-roll of the faithful; people who lived by believing the promises of God. But how did they believe? What did their faith look like? It certainly wasn’t static!

“By faith Abraham obeyed.” There’s the trust in the promise. “And he went out not knowing where he was going”. That is an active faith that is filled with the anticipation of what God could possibly do. And this can be applied to all on that list, such that the author can speak of those “who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” Faith trusted the promises. Infuse that with a holy imagination, and these things happen.

“Expect great things; attempt great things”

These are the words spoken by William Carey, to whom the world is indebted. And he lived by them. He had come to believe the Bible, the truth revealed from God. He was convinced upon the promises of God. That is faith. He could expect God to do what he had promised. But he knew that faith did not end there. To expect God to act meant to attempt various great enterprises to see his hand at work. This was particularly important in his day as he battled against a hyper-Calvinist attitude that did not see the need to reach the nations. They expected God to do a work without any involvement from themselves. Not so with Carey.

Carey had from his youth heard stories of far-off lands from his mariner uncle. He had acquired copies of the accounts of Captain Cook as he explored the world unknown to the common Brit. As he learned of the vastness beyond the horizon, Carey’s heart was stirred. He made a world map out of leather (using the off-cuts from shoes that he was making as a cobbler) and would weep before it. He wrote a long pamphlet called the “Enquiry” which laid out the vast need in every country and island, as he could find data, (a precursor to the modern-day Operation World or Joshua Project), the history of missions, and a proposal as to how the great need might be met by the church in England.

He presented this to other church leaders, was met with scorn by many, but eventually ended up being sent himself as the first missionary of the Baptist Missionary Society, and changed the face of India, and the practice of missions across the world ever since.

Carey did research, he understood the obligation of Christ’s command to go, he let his imagination wonder as to how to reach each individual nation, and this holy imagination eventually led him to go to one of those for which he had wept. Faith-fuelled imagination led a stirred heart to action.

Missions needs those with a holy ambition, but also a holy imagination. Faith that is assured of God’s promises, with an “even if” mentality. It needs those who visit one city and start seeing and imagining all the possible ministries that God could use in that place. All the means to reach people, all the things to be involved in. Then they arise and visit a rural village, and the mind starts spinning in the same vein. They are constantly thinking, what could God do if I were serving in this country, or that country, to rich or to poor, in the cities, in the countryside? Faith says that God has called them to preach the gospel, imagination-fuelled faith says, “how might he do it?”

What could God do? If I was here, or there. It requires not merely maintenance of a calling, but movement. An active pursuit of avenues of service. Not that we pursue all the things we can imagine, nor that we may ever see most of them come to pass. But a life marked by these ways of thinking will be willing to attempt great things for the sake of Christ.

On a long walk, or standing in the shower, where does your mind go? When visiting an old haunt, or a new town, how does your imagination wander? Do you shut up imagination as a frivolous fancy or allow it to lead your heart to being stirred with a passion for the people around. Do you find yourself sitting in a tent, waiting for the giant to fall, or find yourself reaching for a stone, trusting that it may just been the means that God might use to further his kingdom? May we all seek to foster a holy imagination.