Harmless As Doves

A small boy sat by the side of a pool fishing. "What are you

fishing for," asked a man who passed by. "Sharks," replied the

boy. "But there are no sharks in that pool my little man," said the

stranger. "There ain't any fish in this pool at all," answered the

boy. "So I might as well fish for sharks as anything else."

Children have a vivid imagination, and this is certainly one of

the characteristics Jesus had in mind when He said men must

become as little children before they can enter the kingdom of

heaven. Imagination is the eye of the soul. Without it we are, as

Beecher once said, "And observatory without a telescope." You

cannot enter into the world of great literature and poetry without

imagination. Robert Louis Stevenson discussed every sentence of

Treasure Island with his schoolboy step-son before giving it its

final form. He knew that if his story was to be great he had to

appeal to the imagination of youth. Einstein said that even in

science, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Imagination is the key to great discoveries in every realm of life,

including the spiritual. John Davidson wrote,

That minister of ministers, Imagination, gathers up--

The undiscovered Universe, Like Jewels in a jasper cup.

No one can begin to understand the teaching of Christ without

imagination. Jesus constantly spoke in parables, and used imagery

that would leave a man in the dark who did not have the

illumination of a childlike imagination. The common people heard

Jesus gladly because he did not speak in abstract theological terms,

but in common pictures that appealed to the imagination. The

kingdom of heaven, he said, was like a man sowing seed, like a

woman putting leaven in bread, like a merchant in search of fine

pearls. Or else he would say, it is like a mustard seed, or treasure

buried in a field, or like a net thrown into the sea gathering fish of

every kind.

Jesus took His illustrations from life, and from nature, and

appealed to the imagination. He did so because God made nature

the greatest resource for material for visual aids in religious

education. Jesus also knew what modern psychology has

discovered-that the imagination is more powerful than the will.

Win a man's imagination and he is your captive. Great leaders

must appeal to the imagination of their followers to hold their

allegiance. Napoleon said the human race is governed by its

imagination.

On an individual level you can demonstrate this easily. Take a

ten inch plank and put it on the ground and walk from one end to

the other. It is simple. But put the same plank across two buildings

ten stories up and you could no longer do that simple act. Your

imagination would fill your head with visions of falling and it would

leave you powerless. Modern psychology says that whenever the

will and the imagination come into conflict the imagination always

wins. This means that a mind filled with visions of tragedy and evil

around the corner cannot be set at rest by good news and positive

signs. The imagination reigns and makes them pessimistic in spite

of all evidence to the contrary. On the other hand, fill the

imagination with pictures of glory and victory, and all the storms

of hell will not be able to blow you off the pleasant path of

optimistic assurance. That is why the book of Revelation is so

precious to Christian in persecution. Its vivid scenes of glory

around the throne of God, and the victory songs of Christ and all

His saints wins the imagination over and makes it a friend rather

than an enemy in the battle of life.

This means that a Christian generally lives on a level that

corresponds with his imagination. If it is weak, he will be like the

man of whom Macaulay said, "His imagination resembled the

wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar."

The Christian, however, is never to be content with wings that do

not lift him aloft. We are meant to mount up with wings like an

eagle. We are to have aspirations like David who wrote in Psalm

55:6, "O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at

rest." These wings of the dove, that David longed for, are

available to all believers who have the imagination to appropriate

them. Ever since the Holy Spirit came down in the form of a dove,

theology has been linked to the wings of the dove. Spurgeon

pointed out that many astounding sermons have been preached on

the dove. All history has been ransaked for facts and fables about

doves, and they have been used to teach lessons of Christian truth.