Imagine for Each Other
10/8/1996
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I guess one of the things I was thinking about the other day, was just this verse in Ephesians 3 where Paul says that ‘God is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.’ And I was just thinking about that, in the sense of ‘more than we can ask or imagine’. Most of the time when we are wrestling with faith, we are trying to dig ourselves out of these downward spirals of discouragement. It seems to me like it would be a really good practice, in terms of renewing our mind and setting our mind on things above is spending some time…if Paul said “God can do greater things than we can ask or imagine”… actually spending some time driving in the car or whatever, trying to ask or imagine. Just imagining the levels that God wants to take my life, but I guess the thought I was going with this was having that creative mind as it relates to imagining what He can do with each others’ lives, really having a heart and a vision for each others’ lives. Not just, “Where do I want to go”, “What do I want to see my life look like spiritually”, but having a vision for each others’ lives.
It’s God’s heart and call for us - Hebrews 3 talks about…to “exhort or encourage one another daily while it is called Today, lest we be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness”. As we’ve talked about before, that verse, that word there, to exhort one another or encourage one another, has to do with being called alongside one another. Our purpose of walking together is to be able to be that kind of vessel in each others’ lives. But its not in just a way that we can be policemen for each other, like I’m looking out for when my brother takes a false step and then I can correct him in his way. But what we are really wanting to see in each other is to see Christ brought out and Christ magnified and have a greater place in each others’ lives, a greater place in the sense of the fruit that we see emanating out of a life, as well as just a greater place of priority, like we were singing early on in the evening. That the Truth of there is nothing I love more than Him. The facts are we are all growing in that priority and in the obedience to the greatest commandment to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength.
That’s the task, is helping the “all of my heart, all of my soul, all of my mind, all of my strength” become more and more of a reality. And so, I was just thinking in terms of more than we can ask or imagine…really considering one anothers’ lives and there’s a sense in which you can see shortcomings, so to speak, in each others’ lives…and I don’t even want to dress it up and say shortcomings…there is sin, there are things that are short of the glory of God. But I guess another way to look at it—I’m not trying to take something negative and make it positive—but just really trying to see each others’ lives from the vantage point of what it could be. Instead of trying to attack shyness in this person and trying to change that area, but really imagining and asking God to be able to see that person be the roaring Lion of Judah when they need to be, versus just their natural skill set of social skills. That they would be someone who really is living the life of Jesus, and to be able to see the different things in each others’ lives that we can imagine what that life could look like, and then making it a goal to see those things changed.
Me and another brother were talking about this coach for Notre Dame, Lou Holt. At one point in his life, he set up 107 or 108 goals, something like that, and I guess as of now he’s accomplished 95 of them. We did an article of it in our magazine. I guess that is kind of the way people live is this real goal-oriented kind of life. I guess just in this line of thinking….I was thinking how much better it would be to actually instead of drawing a list of goals for ourself and what we want to see in our lives, is really having that kind of mindset and list in terms of what we would like to see in other peoples’ lives.
We mentioned probably a couple years back having a short list of people who we really want to be focused in terms of caring about. Mike encouraged us to maybe have a half dozen people that we are consciously really trying to care about. I was thinking a similar list would be one of what are those areas in their lives that I want to see changed a year from now, or five years from now. Creatively thinking of what aspect of Jesus does it seem like really needs to be drawn out of this person so that they really are a different person five years from now than they are today. And working hard at that goal. If we’re not working hard at goals like that, then we’re really not that much different than the pagans who just live their whole lives trying to make the next day better than the one previous, and just try to solidify our incomes and all the rest of that kind of stuff. Just really being somebody who, like Jesus said, who it was His food to do the work of God.
The chapters like we just read can be tremendously introspective and downward spiraling if we don’t see that ultimately holiness and righteousness is unto being somebody who God can look down upon on earth and say, “I can use this person to help build My Son into other peoples’ lives.” That’s why He wants us to be clean vessels...so that His Spirit can indwell us and He can use those Spirit-Indwelt people to cause there to be more Spirit-Indwelt people and He can have the habitation for His Spirit to dwell. He can have a true resting place where He can fellowship with those of like minds and like hearts, and that He could have the companionship and love that He has desired for so long.
The exhortation would be to let your imagination go in terms of what is possible, not just for your own life, but really truly considering what lives around you could look like and to spend the necessary energy to see that that happens and to sanctify yourself so that that will happen.
