The Peace and Promise of ChristmasSample

Imagination

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. -John 1:4

My friend, the late Steve Bly, was uber-creative. Steve had a special knack for writing Christian Western fiction. He could constantly spin characters and stories out of his head that were, at the same time, incredible yet fully believable. 

One of Steve’s fun things to do was to write his friends into his books—and I was one of them! Steve spun a tantalizing tale of lawman “Old Bill Crowder” pursuing outlaws into a canyon where he was trapped and gunned down by the desperadoes. The ease and imagination with which Steve could create his stories out of thin air amazed me. 

Good writers bring fiction “to life,” but they are not truly creating something from nothing. They’re using their God-given imaginations to invent their characters. 

Jesus, on the other hand, took nothing and turned it into everything. In powerful words that echo the first verse in the Bible, John the disciple wrote, “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:1–3). 

The One who spoke the universe into being and fashioned it from His own imagination came to hang on a cross to redeem and restore His creation. This One who made us also loves us and gave Himself for us. Imagine that! 

In what ways do you see God through His creation? In what ways might you show your gratitude to Him for creating, rescuing, and loving you? 

Father in heaven, it boggles my mind to think of how You imagined me and brought me into existence. And You also planned the way for me to be restored to wholeness with You!