Once upon a time there was a people who fed on imagination. God gave them the gift of perceiving reality. God gave them the strength to resist being mired down by the difficulties of the day. This people drew from the Well of Creativity and invented and improvised and immersed themselves in all “the possibilities” imagination could inspire.
The Adversary hated this flourish of resemblance to the Sovereign of the Universe, so he set into motion a scheme to destroy imagination. From his trunk of untruth he withdrew a powerful and insidious weapon. It is called Pretend.
Pretend should be a beloved child of imagination, but like many children, Pretend grew up to be an ugly, rebellious and violent adult. Rather than take its place as the respectful subservient, Pretend forcefully supplanted the immeasurable possibility. Like a voracious weed, Pretend took over the garden of the human mind.
The calendar tells us that it is the Holiday Season. Does anyone recall that “holiday” means a period of exemption or relief? Only a very few! Instead we bow low to the god of Pretend. We pretend to be happy, we pretend to have money, we pretend to experience wonder, we pretend to love (or at least care for) each other, we pretend to be generous, we pretend to have time. We work diligently, fervently, passionately for Pretend. The color of imagination dims day by day under the glaring glitz of all our activity.
Is this Peace on Earth? Good will to those whom God favors?
This season is the Season of Advent. Expectation of celebrating the arrival of the gift of Love and the return of the King. My family at Main Street will together imagine the great possibilities of excusing Pretend.
God’s voice is glorious in the thunder.
We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power.–Job 37.5, NLT
TheNarrowRoadPursued 
Appreciate the posting……interesting.Always read your blog…….thks HC
Just reading Hebrews 3 last night, and this resonated with what you posted here:
“12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.”
Looking forward to sharing in Christ with my brothers and sisters at Main Street and taking part in some mutual encouragement!
I used to really despise Hebrews. I grew up and now it is one of my favorites. What a bunch said in so few words.
Pastor Bob, in Sunday morning’s message you mentioned that Caiphas was Annas’ son, I thought he was his son-in-law. I’ve tried to research it on line but can’t find the relationship mentioned. Can you please direct me to a site? I hope you don’t think I’m nit-picking, I’m just somewhat of a history nut! Carol
Good catch, I am impressed! The actual relationship between Annas and Caiaphas is unknown for certain, but John 18.13 is translated “son-in-law.” I used the term “son” as a generic to cover the bases so to speak. Here is an excerpt from the well respected Anchor Bible Dictionary about the relationship between the two men.