Imagine

“Open rebuke is better Than love carefully concealed.”

Proverbs 27:5  



The Beattle’s hit song “Imagine” has been sung by many a politician the last couple of weeks inviting American’s to try to imagine, to dare to dream about what it would be like for the world to know peace and unity and love. The good news today is we don’t need to merely imagine, wish or a dream. Unity and oneness are all realities for the children of God who live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our founding fathers declared, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." These rights our constitution seeks to provide come with a contingency as they can only be realized as we become one nation under God. You can’t have one without the other. The solution to our nations woes are not sociological, it is theological.  

Imagine if you will that everyone in America took God’s Word to heart today and as a nation we repented of our sins and turned to God, trusting and serving Him wholeheartedly? God tells us plainly in His Word that if we each took a knee and did that He would hear our prayers and in turn He would heal our country. Try as we may, that’s the only way possible for humanity to experience the unity so many in the world claim to want. Ever since the beginning of creation, our Creator has majored in making the two become one. Unity, oneness, wholeness, holiness is what God does because it’s an expression of who He is.  

Pastor and teacher Dr. Tony Evans shared the following social media post regarding the cure for racism in America when he wrote, “Don’t try to change others, if God can’t even change your heart. Unity starts with you. Each of us plays a part in healing our racial divide.” Consider these verses of scripture today and imagine what the world would be like if each of us lived by them and quit expecting others to do so. Romans 12:21 teaches us, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Or how about John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” In Matthew 7:12 Jesus taught us the Golden Rule, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Imagine if we all treated each other the way we wanted them to treat us? How different our world would be instantly.

Faith in action is what is needed in our world today. Dialog is great, listening to one another is paramount because our listening is what will motivate us to accomplishment. James, the half brother of Jesus Christ puts it plainly, imagining a world where everyone gets along and lives in peace and harmony might make for a hit song but in order for it to become a reality for our country, we have to get up and get going and do something about it now. James 2:14-18 says, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

Let’s don’t settle for imagining a better world, let’s do something about it today. It’s easier than you might think. Pray and ask God to direct your steps. Find a need and fill it today, they are all around you. Find a hurt and heal it, for there is pain everywhere. Let’s determine today to not wait for someone else to make a change, let it start with me, and with you. Let’s set out today to help the world come to know Jesus my making Him known, and not just by what we say but also by what we do.

 
“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

John 13:35


I LOVE YOU!





 


 
 

Michael Osthimer

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