Just Imagine By Doug Hayes



There are many places in the Bible where we use our imagination to grasp a situation or specific saying. I think about the account where Abraham took his son Isaac to the same mountain range where Jesus would later be crucified. And in my mind I can see him raising his knife above his son who was lying on the alter he had just made and at just the right moment God saying “Stop! Don’t kill your son. ” I think about the limited descriptions that we have of what heaven will be like and there are times when I find myself dreaming about that place of golden streets where God’s glory illuminates everything. In John chapter 4, Jesus sits at a well and has a conversation with a woman of Samaria. After speaking with the Lord, she places her faith in Him and goes back into town to tell her friends and family about Jesus; then they too come out to see Jesus. While this all was taking place, Jesus’ disciples went to get some fast food and then returned to Jesus with dinner. As they were urging Jesus to eat he makes this comment to them: “My food,” said Jesus, is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. Do not say, ‘four months more and then the harvest?’ I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest.” John 4:34-35 (NIV) Now, can you imagine this scene unfolding? As Jesus and His disciples are standing by a well with food ready to eat. There may very well have been a large group of people coming from the town out to meet them. The disciples were probably thinking “hurry up, the food’s getting cold” or “man we’ve been walking all day and we’re starved.” But Jesus isn’t dwelling on the food. He’s looking at the large group of people coming to meet Him and He says to His disciples “Open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest.” It’s so easy for us to get our focus on other things. Yet in the midst of all that goes on, I believe Jesus would tell us the same thing. “Open your eyes...look at the fields…they are ripe for harvest.” Just imagine, you are at your lunch table looking at that processed meat patty, but look up and around at all the students: the fields are ripe for harvest. Just imagine yourself between classes, you’ve got thirty seconds before the bell rings and 200 people are trying to cram through one door: look around, the fields are ripe for harvest. Just imagine where the mass of humanity will be spending eternity without Jesus: look up, the fields are ripe for harvest. Just imagine, a great outpouring of God’s Spirit on the hearts and lives of young people all over our region. Just imagine, small groups of students huddled up in the halls praying for each other. Just imagine every youth group in our county bursting at its seams with new students accepting Jesus. Just imagine thousands of teenagers filling our school’s stadium and raising their voices to the King of Kings.
By Doug Hayes