Imagine this

I am reading an excellent book today titled, Children of a Greater God by Terry Glaspey, Harvest House Pub. In it, the seed was sown that the words Imagination, Mind, and Creation were from the same Hebrew verb form. When I first read that, I was excited because this went so well with my current research for my doctoral paper. It seems like we have lost our ability to imagine; the creative minds and hands like Newton, Angelo and daVinci are nowhere to be found. We have replaced our imagination with the images of Hollywood and the makers of computer games and now youtube. Yes they can serve as an instrument to inspire, but few have the fortitude to "attempt great things for God and expect great things from God." Spurgeon said, "though many wishing to be great, they have failed to be good."

So how does this happen? How do we begin thinking great thoughts? How do we cultivate the imagination with creative and worthy ideas? I believe it begins with wisdom. But before we can pursue wisdom, we must understand the significance of the synonymous relationship of the three words we started with: Imagination, Mind, and Creation. First, when I read this in Terry's book I almost wrote a quick note in my blog because I wanted to share this unique truth. But then I thought it best to check on it. As I looked up the words, I couldn't find anywhere in Genesis that the word "creation" was related to the mind or the imagination. He had quoted Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep him in perfect peace because his mind is stayed upon you, because he trusts in you." Indeed the word for mind here is the same as the word imagination. But no where could I find a connection with the word creation. I was so bummed…I wanted to find out where Terry lived so I could call him…I needed answers and I needed them asap! He couldn't have written this in his book in the very first chapter without checking on it, I thought. Or could he?

I was up after midnight checking every word in Genesis. My mentor and Hebrew scholar whom I would turn to in such instances, died last week, so I was on my own. I sent a quick email to a friend who was a missionary in France for fourteen years hoping he would be able to help me since he had just shot me an email a few minutes before midnight…no return response. It was killing me…THEN I found it. It wasn't the word for creation that Terry was referring to, it was the word for "formed." In Genesis 2:7, 8, "God put the man in the garden whom he had FORMED"—yetser יצר

This word, yester יצר

Is the same word for "potter" in the Scriptures. Our mind and our imagination is formed in the same way a potter forms clay. What beautiful imagery when thinking about the impressionable mind of a child and the great responsibility of a parent. How will we form our children's imaginations? Will we help them to taste and see that the Lord is good? Will they catch the significance of Ephesians 3:20, that God will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or IMAGINE! You see, the connection between the imagination, the mind, and this idea of "forming" or as Terry coined it, creating, has everything to do with what we fill and form our minds with. Isaiah 26:3 says it all: "I will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Him, because he trusts Him." When we keep our mind fixed upon our great and magnanimous God, our creative juices will begin to flow. Creativity is a byproduct of spending time with a creative God. Just look at his creation! How could one not be influenced by greatest if they spend time with the Greatest of All? Is it really that simple? It really is…but we need to make some choices…we may have to choose between American Idol and God.