God's Guest List
Tony R. Nester
Luke 14: 15-24
Jesus had a great imagination. I don't mean that he made up things that weren't true. I mean rather what the dictionary says about the word imagination: the power to create images of what's real but unseen.
Faith is to a great extent sanctified imagination. A person with faith is a person who sees--has images--of spiritual reality. The more faith we have the more we begin to see -- image -- our world in the light of God's Presence, Power, and Truth.
The Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion, or Eucharist--whichever name we give this sacrament--is only available to us by faith. If we see it only with our physical eyes we will get only a morsel of bread and a mini-cupful of grape juice. But when faith is at work in us we imagine--image in our minds--the Body and the Blood of Christ.
An old Scotsman lay very ill, and his minister came to visit him. As the minister sat down on a chair near the bedside, he noticed on the other side of the bed another chair placed at such an angle as to suggest that a visitor had just left it. "Well, Donald," said the minister glancing at the chair, "I see I'm not our first visitor."
The Scotsman looked up in surprise, so the minister pointed to the chair. "Ah," said the sufferer, "I'll tell you about the chair. Years ago, I found it impossible to pray. I often fell asleep on my knees I was so tired. And if I kept awake I could not control my thoughts from wandering.
One day I was so worried I spoke to my minister about it. He told me not to worry about kneeling down. "Just sit down," he said, "put a chair opposite you, imagine that Jesus is in it and talk to Him as you would to a friend." "And," the Scotsman added," I have been doing that ever since. So now you know why the chair is standing like that."
A week later the daughter of the old Scot drove up to the minister's house and knocked at his door. She was shown into the study, and when the minister came in she could ha ...
Tony R. Nester
Luke 14: 15-24
Jesus had a great imagination. I don't mean that he made up things that weren't true. I mean rather what the dictionary says about the word imagination: the power to create images of what's real but unseen.
Faith is to a great extent sanctified imagination. A person with faith is a person who sees--has images--of spiritual reality. The more faith we have the more we begin to see -- image -- our world in the light of God's Presence, Power, and Truth.
The Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion, or Eucharist--whichever name we give this sacrament--is only available to us by faith. If we see it only with our physical eyes we will get only a morsel of bread and a mini-cupful of grape juice. But when faith is at work in us we imagine--image in our minds--the Body and the Blood of Christ.
An old Scotsman lay very ill, and his minister came to visit him. As the minister sat down on a chair near the bedside, he noticed on the other side of the bed another chair placed at such an angle as to suggest that a visitor had just left it. "Well, Donald," said the minister glancing at the chair, "I see I'm not our first visitor."
The Scotsman looked up in surprise, so the minister pointed to the chair. "Ah," said the sufferer, "I'll tell you about the chair. Years ago, I found it impossible to pray. I often fell asleep on my knees I was so tired. And if I kept awake I could not control my thoughts from wandering.
One day I was so worried I spoke to my minister about it. He told me not to worry about kneeling down. "Just sit down," he said, "put a chair opposite you, imagine that Jesus is in it and talk to Him as you would to a friend." "And," the Scotsman added," I have been doing that ever since. So now you know why the chair is standing like that."
A week later the daughter of the old Scot drove up to the minister's house and knocked at his door. She was shown into the study, and when the minister came in she could ha ...
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