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We often think of children whenever we think of the imagination. This is unfortunate if we forget that we, too, have imaginations. Our imaginations are not something that we lose, but they do mature. For example, we use our imaginations whenever we project possibilities into the future. Such a use of our imaginations is futile if it doesn’t connect to reality. It isn’t so with a childlike imagination. It seems that in the best, most immersive play, children suspend reality. But in life, reality is often more than what it seems.
There is a basic truth about the nature of our fellowship as Christians that challenges us to have a more playful, reality-expanding imagination: Christians are united, one with each other, in Christ. As ironic as it sounds, a childlike imagination can help us mature in our love for one another. A mature Christian sees every relationship in the faith as mediated through Christ (Eph. 4:13), but this requires us to take to heart the ways that Jesus teaches us to be imaginative in how we see one another. We’ll look at our Lord’s commands to His disciples in John 15 and His teaching on the final judgment in Matthew 25 to help us imagine Christ in ourselves and in others.
christ in ourselves and john 15
Let’s start with the easier one: imagining Christ in ourselves. This requires less imagination because of its theological significance. It is more familiar to us. It is at the very heart of the gospel. We are united to Christ. In teaching about our death to sin, Paul emphasizes our union with Christ and shows how central it is to the gospel: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4, emphasis added). Elsewhere, Paul says: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Our union with Christ is the foundation of our imagining Christ in ourselves, and the whole of the Christian sanctification can be called an imaging of Christ (see Rom. 8:29).
Paul’s theology of union with Christ has Christ as its source. One place where Jesus teaches us of our vital union to Him is John 15. He commands us, “Abide in me, and I in you” (v. 4), and later, “Love one another as I have loved you” (v. 12). We must abide in Christ because, apart from Him, we can do nothing (v. 5), and the type of love to which He is calling us was perfectly exemplified by Him when He laid down His life for His friends (v. 13). We cannot exhibit this type of love apart from Him, but Jesus is calling us beyond following His example; He is calling us to love with His love through our abiding in Him. Jesus teaches us not only how we are to love (i.e., sacrificially; v. 13), but also with what quality of love—His, which is nothing short of the love of the Father (v. 9).
christ in others and matthew 25
Jesus calls us to love with His love, and He calls us to love fellow Christians as we would love Him. Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25 challenges us to imagine in this way:
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. . . . Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matt. 25:34–36, 40)
The implication of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25 is on the surface: we are to love each other as we would love Him. Jesus’ use of the language of family when He says “my brothers” (v. 40) makes it plain that this is to be expressly true of those who are in “the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10). In the church, union with Christ makes us a family, makes us a household, for we are all united to Christ.
But here’s why all this is a challenge to our imaginations. Each of us would confess with John the Baptist that “I am not the Christ” (John 1:20), and when we look at other Christians, we know that we are not looking at Jesus. This is especially so when we consider our sins and the sins of others, when love becomes difficult. For this, we need a more childlike imagination.
A child may not be an excavator operator in that dirt pile in the yard, but he is immersed in play as if it were so. Many believe that such play expands a child’s grasp of reality, and though it isn’t real, the building blocks of his play are themselves built from reality. We need to be immersed in life beyond what is seen, because there is a reality beyond it, something that isn’t a figment of our imaginations. As Christians, we are each individuals, but each of us has a real spiritual union with Christ, and this real spiritual union extends to one another.
The next time you show up to church to worship, think upon these things. When you see your brothers and sisters in Christ, remember their spiritual union with Him and see less of them and more of Him. Remember also your union with Christ and love them with His love, even loving them as you would love Him, for such is the love of those who inherit the kingdom.