Did you ever have an imaginary friend when you were a child? I did not and in fact, I can’t think of anyone I know who did. But I have heard that many children do have imaginary friends. I guess that’s when imagination starts, in children. The benefit of imaginary friends is that they are whatever you want them to be. They never have to get mad at you, they can always be by your side and agree with all you say and do. You can make them do the scary things that you are too afraid to try. They can take the blame whenever you get in trouble. You can be with them or ignore them whenever you want. It’s a one-sided relationship where you are totally in control. The trouble with that is…they are not really a friend at all. They are not real and true. You are just as alone as if you had never imagined them in the first place. In order to have a friend and be a friend, you must get to know the other person and allow them to know you. That takes effort and it takes time. Life is lonely with a friend who is only imaginary.

Do you know people who have a relationship with God like that? I guess the more important questions is…have you ever had that relationship with God? Where you imagine Him to be what you want, when you want? Pick him up when you need Him and then ignore Him when life seems to be going well? Is it a one-sided relationship where you do all the talking and no listening? Does this imaginary god love you just as you are but doesn’t want to work in you to make you better? That’s not real – that’s not God. He does love you just as you are but…He does want to work in and through you to make you better. He has a plan for you and it’s a plan for YOUR GOOD. The thing is, you can’t be in control. You can’t pick God up when you want and then drop Him when you want to go your own way. You must let God be God in your life. He’s not pushy; He gives all of us freedom of choice. We can choose to have an imaginary god or we can choose to follow the real, personal and only true God. What will you choose today? Imagination and deceit or reality and truth? Deceiving ourselves only leads to destruction.

I choose GOD! I pray that when I try to take control and make God what I want, I will quickly realize it and use my imagination for something beneficial, not making a false God. His will, not mine. He is God, I am not.

Isaiah 65:2 “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations”

2 Peter 1:3 “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Ephesians 3:20-21 ^“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

04/01/19