Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Following Jesus takes both Imagination & Perspiration
Art and Soul – Week 2- Making our lives our greatest works of art.
“From a purely anthropological perspective, the ability to translate imagination into reality is a uniquely human attribute. Beavers build dams and bees build hives and ants build colonies, all from instinct. But humans are creatures not of simple instinct but of divine imagination. Humans create futures that exist only in the imagination. Every species builds, but humans create. Why in the world would we want to outgrow the influence and effect of the human imagination?” McManus, Erwin Raphael (2014-02-25). The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (pp. 95-96). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Imagination- the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.
1. Following Jesus takes both Imagination and Perspiration-
Unleashing Creativity through the Re-Imagining of Life
Matthew 16:1-4- The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.[a] 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
2. Following Jesus takes both Imagination and Perspiration-
Becoming Creational Catalysts and practicing Careful Creativity.
Matthew16: 5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.” 8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
3. Following Jesus takes both Imagination and Perspiration-
Engaging a Spirit Lead Imagination leads to living a Creative Life.
Matthew 16: 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
4. Following Jesus takes both Imagination and Perspiration-
Bringing Imagination into Reality takes Perspiration
“Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Thomas Edison
Matthew 16:21-27- 21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
“Who we were created to become already exists in the mind of God. It’s placed in our physical DNA and in the longings of our soul. Our lives are supposed to be a manifestation of the imagination of God, and whatever else we leave behind— the life we choose to live and the person we choose to become— is the ultimate expression of the artisan soul.” McManus, Erwin Raphael (2014-02-25). The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 105). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
