‘I Can Only Imagine!’

 “As it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  1 Corinthians 2:9

What would you say if I told you today that God knew you before time began, that He knew you; while you were yet in your mother’s womb?  One day soon, God will bring His Son, Jesus Christ back to take you home with Him forever, and all that you knew  about Him will be as real as your hand in front of your face!

God knows you thoroughly,  He is fully aware of all your faults, fears, dreams, ambitions.   There is no one I know who can say they know you in this way.  It becomes a very personal significant thought to know that in spite of whom I am, a sinner, in need of mercy, and forgiveness, that He considers me to be important to Him,  important enough that He has secured this promise by His own blood; all, His own doing.

God gave His only begotten Son, that He would take my place to secure the promise in this passage. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done, who we are, Jesus Christ has paid for our redemption in full, by His own blood, bringing us into the presence of a Mighty Loving God who has prepared an awesome, unbelievable future, a real place that if He were to show us right now, we wouldn’t be able to comprehend it.

And yet, He has already prepared this glorious future for us.  Jesus said in John 14: ” In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Jesus Christ, Himself, has redeemed us, forgiven us of all our sins, and has already made the preparations to welcome you into His Kingdom.

It’s strange that many of the things we anticipate and even dream about, when it’s all said and done are much less  glorious in real life than they were in our imaginations.

I’m reminded of a song I played and sang at a recent Bible Study group. The song is entitled very simply; “I can only Imagine”. Here the lyrics:

“I can only imagine, what it will be like; when I walk by Your side.  I can only imagine, what my eyes will see, when Your face is before me; I can only imagine…

Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel?  Will I dance for You Jesus, or in awe of You be still?  Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?  Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?   I can only imagine, yeah, I can only imagine.

I can only imagine, when that day comes, and I find myself, standing in the sun, I can only imagine, when all I will do is forever, forever worship You, I can only imagine, I can only imagine.

The dictionary defines the word Imagine as ‘To bring something before the mind, literally; to form a mental image of something we have maybe heard but never seen.”

I think the closest thing we can relate this to would be maybe something when we were children, something we were promised and we trusted unconditionally that it would come to pass.   I still remember when I was 7 years old, I was promised that in “two weeks I would be going to the ‘Magic Kingdom’ otherwise known as Disneyland.

I couldn’t quite grasp the meaning of how long two weeks would be; and so it seemed that almost every day I would be asking, is the day today?  Is this the day I’ll be going to Disneyland?  Full of anticipation, wonder, and excitement, I really didn’t know just what it would be like when I actually got there, but one thing for sure; it captured my imagination!   When the day finally came, it was truly amazing!  The sights, sounds, smell.

In an even more greater way will be the day when we get to go home to the Eternal Kingdom of God!

“As it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 

It will be more than my eyes have ever seen,  even more than I have ever heard!  More even than my mind has ever conceived! 

The dictionary defines the word conceived as “to take in and hold, to grasp, to take” God has already prepared  an amazing destination for believer’s that in the phrase: “Would blow your mind” wouldn’t be able to describe it; it’s within our grasp because the One who made the promise, prepared it, lives in us.  We can never fear that we could lose this glorious promise from God.

And it all begins within our ability to fathom, to dream, and anticipate the return of the One who made it all possible, our Lord Jesus Christ!

The Bible teaches us that in our sojourn here on planet earth, we as Pilgrims are to redeem our time. We need to ‘buy in’ to things that are more than anything on earth.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”                Philippians 4:18

In closing, what a comfort for us to know that God has already prepared this place for us. It’s not a ‘figment of our imagination’ as the world might think, it’s a real place.  And with real people.  Most important, while the world continues to try and dispel Jesus Christ as a myth, we know that He is real, and alive forever more!  

And so, be encouraged wherever you are, that God is mindful of you, your works, and your love for the brethren. Your work of love is not in vain, because His Word, ‘will not return void’.  Take this passage today and write it on the palm of your hand, that you would be reminded and others would see that this man, this woman, was a child of the Living God.

“As it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.”  1 Corinthians 2:9

Here’s Today’s Video!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xwzItqYmII