The Power of Imagination

“No make-believe things like, uh, oh, pink dragons and stuff.” -Madam Mim, Sword and the Stone, Walt Disney

It is an interesting thing, that humanity can imagine the impossible. It is fun to watch as my children play make-believe with their sticks and toys. Watching as the floor of my living room quickly turns into lava for a little two-year-old girl as she must through pillows in certain places to get around the room. Homes made of gingerbread, carpets that can fly, and a slew of other fun adventures all finding fertile ground in the minds of my children. It is fun, it is joyful laughter, it is heated debate, and it is sorrow but, in the end, it is all make-believe.  Some of their games are close to reality or may be reality in a few years, as the pretend to be moms and dads, others will never be as a house full of lava has low resale value.

Adults trade in make-believe as well. Often spending billions to go to the movies (in 2018 the global box office was 40.7 billion), not including cable offerings and other formats. We love to imagine that men can fly without wings, and any number of other impossible abilities. Enjoying the idea that strong well-articulated arguments can come “off the cuff”, not requiring hours of thought, and research to come to the right conclusion and then more time and effort to formulate it into something that will capture the hearts and minds of those listening. As with my children, our adult make-believe runs the gamut between possible and impossible. Yet the real damage comes when we start to give real power and authority to those who help us pretend, to those who brought us joy for a moment.

In the end they pretended, and made it look real, that doesn’t mean that it was so. Leonard Nimoy may have been smart but he wasn’t Spock. I mention this because of the vast number of celebrities that are choosing a political side. Actors are those who make money by pretending, singers are those who make money by singing, and athletes are those who make money by selling tickets to watch them do cool stuff. In the end, the microphone they have been given is not because they are better thinkers than anyone else, but because someone believes those listening will follow them rather than think through the issues for themselves. That they will conform themselves to what they see. In this the Christian has a higher call.

“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

The Christian must learn to think in accord with scripture and let it lead him in pursuit of God’s desire, both in voting and in policies to advocate. Imagination is a very good and powerful thing, but let us not delude ourselves, it is only make-believe. The reality of God’s incarnation as a man, death and resurrection for our sins, is to be the controlling influence on the Christian, let it be so in your life.

Coram Deo