Just My Imagination? No Way!

Perry Wm. Bell
    This morning at our community Bible study at a local restaurant, we began talking about a billboard in Boulder (the Republic of) that stated that “God is just a figment of our imagination.”
    My first response was “Whatever” but then I began thinking about all the people that will read that sign, and how many people will be turned away by it. I also wonder how many Christians, if only for a fleeting moment, will think, hmm, what if?
    There are many things that will try and turn you away from the truth of the Good News. It may be as blatant as a billboard, or you may find it on a porno site on your computer, or in a bottle hidden away on a shelf. There are also those not so blatant things like thoughts or desires or that guy who sits on your shoulder and says “maybe you should do this...no one will know.”
    And when that voice speaks loudly in my ear, it is really hard to hear the voice of God. But then, I am not just somebody. I am a child of God. And you are too! Furthermore, with Jesus’ power and authority, those voices that try and get to me to something else are threatened. In the gospel of Mark, an unclean and evil spirit in a man recognizes God, expecting to be destroyed by Jesus. “Be silent, and come out of him.” says the Lord. But before submitting to Christ, this voice speaks even more loudly trying to keep its hold over the man. And when the cares and temptations of my daily life try to shout above the steady voice of God, it keeps me from hearing the Lord’s promise of redemption.
    People listen! God controls all things in heaven and earth...All things. And you can be delivered from the junk and stuff when you focus on the fact that you are a child of God, redeemed, forgiven, healed, secure in the promise. Stop messing around and get your act together. God is in control. Who else made the sun come up today? Who else made the mountains covered with snow, or the fields to grow.
    This is not imagination, this is truth.