Category: John

  • I Can’t even Imagine

    This diptych (a work made up of two matching parts) shows two things. Firstly, it shows how my mind and imagination work. Second, it shows why it takes me a long time to walk in the woods. The right-hand side is obviously an ai generated visual of the sort of thing I imagine when I’m out in the woods.

    I have a pretty vivid imagination, but there are some things I cannot, for the life of me, get a grasp on. Here are a few.

     For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.1 Corinthians 13:9-12 ESV

    What will it be like when we see the Lord face to face and others fully modeled into everything God created them to be? I can’t imagine.

    Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  Revelation 21:1-4 ESV

    What will glory look like?

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV

    How long is eternity?

    There are plenty of things about God, His Word and what is to come that I can’t fully grasp. I’m okay with that. I know it will be better than anything I can dream up, even in my vivid imagination.

    There are also some things I do understand. He loved me enough to come and die to free me. He seals me with His Spirit. He is shaping me into the image of His Son. I might not fully understand those things, but His Word, the testimony of the church, and what I have seen and experienced convince me of their reality.

    We don’t have to understand everything fully to know that Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to us. We don’t need to understand fully to share the truth with others.

    Don’t let what you don’t know hold you back. Read the Word, apply it to life and grow deeper in your faith. Give Him all the glory.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    My imagination cannot picture what it will be like to see the Lord face to face. I do not need to understand that fully to trust it, or to keep telling others about Him.

    TAKEAWAY

    Can you imagine what it will be like to see the Lord face to face, and to see others fully become everything God created them to be?

    You don’t have to understand everything fully to know that Jesus is the best thing that has ever happened to you.

    Don’t let what you don’t know hold you back. Read the Word, apply it to your life, and grow deeper in your faith.

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  • The Kingdom of God Grows Like Corn in a Field

    A row of tall corn reminds me of the growth of the church

    Our local area is famous for its corn crops. “Chilliwack” corn is highly sought after in stores and farm markets in Western Canada. It seems that as we drive down country roads, almost every farm is either berries or corn.

    Every day the corn gets visibly taller. I wondered how tall corn could grow, so I looked it up. While typical “tall corn” reaches about 8 feet, the world’s record corn reached 45 feet. That is nearly as tall as a four-story building.

    Recently I saw a hummingbird rest briefly on the top of a corn plant. I was surprised, not by the hummingbird, as we see them occasionally, but by its choice of perch.

    The hummingbird on the corn reminded me of a familiar passage of Scripture.

    [Jesus] said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” Luke 13:18-21 ESV

    Of course, the mustard seed analogy was perfectly clear to the original audience. They were an agrarian society and familiar with the crops of the day. Today, most of us don’t grow up watching mustard planted, and many have never baked anything, so they have never seen yeast at work.

    Indeed, the kingdom has grown exponentially here on earth since the day of Jesus. It has grown from very few followers at the start, to thousands joining the church a day after Pentecost, to over 2.5 billion identifying as believers today. That doesn’t include all the people in the interim who were born and died as believers.

    We could question how many of the 2.5 billion are true believers, but even if most are not, the church has exceeded what anyone could have conceived in Jesus’ day.

    Sometimes we feel as if the church is stagnant or perhaps even losing the battle. We wonder where the harvest is or how the church could possibly grow against the culture of the day.

    Yet, day by day, member by member, it continues to grow even if we are not seeing it personally.

    When we get discouraged, we would be wise to remember Christ’s words. 

    “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18 ESV

    Christ has defeated sin and death. The process continues until all whom the Lord has called to be His own are saved, so the battles continue. The victory is already assured.

    Hold fast, my friend. Like a grain of yeast, or a mustard seed, or a kernel of corn, the kingdom is growing soul by soul, moment and day by day. Nothing in all of creation can stop it.

    Through Christ, we have victory. Rejoice and praise His name.

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    A hummingbird resting on top of our tall Chilliwack corn reminded me of Jesus’ mustard seed parable. It’s a picture of how the kingdom of God keeps growing quietly, soul by soul, even when we can’t see it happening.

    TAKEAWAY

    A hummingbird perching atop a cornstalk sparked a reflection on Jesus’ parables of the mustard seed and the leaven in Luke 13:18-21

    The kingdom of God has grown from a handful of followers to over 2.5 billion believers today, exceeding anything imaginable in Jesus’ time

    Christ’s promise in Matthew 16:18 assures us the church’s growth cannot be stopped, even when it feels stagnant or discouraging

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