How can we begin to perceive God? How can we understand God if he is with out boundaries or limits? Since God is endless and without limits the best way for us to begin to perceive him is to use the part of our minds that is limitless as well. This part of the mind we tend to label our
imagination. We say that our imagination is beyond limits, beyond expectations, and beyond logic, coincidentally we describe God in the exact same way. While an image of God can be found through the scriptures it is only a part of him. If we try to define God only through the scriptures then we are not getting a full picture, where scripture ends imagination begins.
Once we have a strong building block, from scripture, of what the nature of God truly is then where do we go from there? We must take a leap of
faith from fact to imagination and pray that the Holy Spirit will guide our minds. While imagination is a key tool we can use in our faith it can also be a corrupting force. If we let our
imaginations go unguided then it can lead us away from God. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that: "A person will
worship something, have no doubt about that. We may think our tribute is paid in secret in the dark recesses of our hearts, but it will out. That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives, and our character. Therefore, it behooves us to be
careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming."
This is why we must be careful, not to restrain our imagination but rather lead it in the right direction and away from temptation. Luckily for us God is with us and will not give us more than we can handle as it says in 1 Corinthians 10:13: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be
tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it". Though our imaginations can lead us to
sinful things, imagination in and of itself is not a sinful thing.
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