Latest / Finding God at Work / Episode 14: Open Our Eyes

Transcript

Episode 14: Open Our Eyes · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  This is the final episode of our first
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  series, Imagining Work.
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  Thank you for joining me on this 14
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  episode walk through different stories about work, different
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  images of work from the Bible.
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  I hope that it's been helpful for you.
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  It's caused me to return to some of
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  my own struggles with work in prayer and
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  think about what images are really shaping my
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  mind and my heart when it comes to
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  work.
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  I hope it's helped you do the same
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  and helped you most of all connect with
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  Jesus.
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  And as you know, during this series, we've
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  been asking the question, what story about work
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  am I living in?
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  And so I thought it would be appropriate
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  to conclude with a story from scripture about
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  the imagination, about what we can see in
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  God's world.
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  So this one is from Second Kings chapter
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  six.
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  And just to give a little bit of
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  context, this is during a time when the
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  people of Israel were in conflict with a
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  nation called Aram.
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  And there was a prophet in Israel at
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  that time, Elisha, sometimes referred to as the
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  man of God in this passage.
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  And this is about Elisha and his servant.
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  And it's about what his servant is able
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  to see in God's world in the course
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  of the work that they're doing in the
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  work of prophetic ministry and in this great
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  conflict between Aram and Israel.
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  The story actually has some humor to it
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  because Elisha as a prophet is basically like
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  the CIA for Israel.
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  He's using his prophetic insight to gather military
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  intelligence about the plans of the king of
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  Aram, which causes problems for Aram because Israel
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  knows what he's planning to do in terms
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  of military strategy.
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  So that's where the story starts.
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  We'll start there and then we'll get to
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  the part that's about the imagination, about what
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  we can see.
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  So this is second Kings, chapter six, starting
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  in verse eight.
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  Now the king of Aram was at war
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  with Israel.
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  After conferring with his officers, he said, I
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  will set up my camp in such and
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  such a place.
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  The man of God sent word to the
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  king of Israel.
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  Beware of passing that place because the Arameans
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  are going down there.
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  So the king of Israel checked on the
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  place indicated by the man of God.
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  Time and again, Elisha warned the king so
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  that he was on his guard in such
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  places.
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  This enraged the king of Aram.
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  He summoned his officers and demanded of them.
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  Will you not tell me which of us
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  is on the side of the king of
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  Israel?
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  None of us, my Lord, the king said
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  one of his officers.
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  But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel,
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  tells the king of Israel the very words
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  you speak in your bedroom.
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  Go find out where he is.
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  The king ordered so I can send men
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  and capture him.
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  The report came back.
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  He is in Dothan.
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  Then he sent horses and chariots and a
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  strong force there.
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  They went by night and surrounded the city.
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  When the servant of the man of God
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  got up and went out early the next
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  morning, an army with horses and chariots had
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  surrounded the city.
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  Oh, my Lord, what shall we do?
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  The servant asked.
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  Don't be afraid, the prophet answered.
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  Those who are with us are more than
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  those who are with them.
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  And Elisha prayed, Oh, Lord, open his eyes
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  so he may see.
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  Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes and
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  he looked and saw the hills full of
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  horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
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  As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha
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  prayed to the Lord, strike these people with
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  blindness.
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  So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha
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  had asked.
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  Elisha told them, this is not the road
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  and this is not the city.
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  Follow me and I will lead you to
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  the man you were looking for.
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  And he led them to Samaria.
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  After they entered the city, Elisha said, Lord,
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  open the eyes of these men so they
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  can see.
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  Then the Lord opened their eyes and they
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  looked.
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  And there they were inside Samaria.
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  When the king of Israel saw him, he
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  asked Elisha, shall I kill them, my father?
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  Shall I kill them?
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  Do not kill them, he answered.
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  Would you kill men you have captured with
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  your own sword or bow?
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  Set food and water before them so that
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  they may eat and drink and then go
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  back to their master.
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  So he prepared a great feast for them.
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  And after they had finished eating and drinking,
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  he sent them away and they returned to
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  their master.
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  So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel's
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  territory.
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  This is a really delightful story.
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  Again, it has that humor, right?
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  You can even hear in the King of
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  Israel's question, should I kill him?
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  Should I kill him?
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  He's just so ready to commit this atrocity
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  against prisoners of war.
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  And yet Elisha restrains him, right?
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  Elisha ministers the mercy of God.
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  Even in this extremely violent, ancient near eastern
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  military context, he says, these are prisoners that
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  we've captured.
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  Let's let them go back.
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  And that mercy is likely part of what
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  leads to the King of Aram abandoning his
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  attacks against Israel.
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  So we see the mercy of God in
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  this passage.
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  We see a kind of cleverness, even humor
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  in the way that God resolves the situation.
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  But we also see this motif of eyes
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  being opened to see.
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  So with the captured Eremian soldiers, they're blinded.
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  And that's what allows Elisha to lead them
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  away to a different place.
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  And then their eyes are opened and they
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  see, oh, no, we've we've been captured.
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  We thought we were in command, but we
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  aren't.
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  And then even more poignantly, there's the moment
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  with Elisha's servant where he is so afraid
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  because he can see the enemy troops.
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  But Elisha says, don't be afraid.
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  And Elisha prays, Lord, open his eyes so
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  he may see.
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  And then the servant can see that there
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  are other horses and other chariots, horses and
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  chariots of fire, the forces of God's angel
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  armies surrounding and protecting him and his master
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  Elisha and all of God's people.
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  This is, for me, one of the most
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  powerful images in the Bible of the reality
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  of God's kingdom being made visible to someone.
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  It's not that the horses and chariots of
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  fire weren't there until the servant had his
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  eyes opened.
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  They were there the whole time.
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  There's a spiritual reality surrounding us at all
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  times.
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  But we often just can't see it.
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  We often forget that it's there.
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  And so when God opens the servant's eyes,
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  he sees the previously unseen real.
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  He sees the spiritual reality all around him
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  of the love and power and protection of
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  God in the middle of a very concrete
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  and scary situation.
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  This is what we need God to do
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  for us.
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  We need him to open our eyes so
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  that we can see the reality of his
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  love, his power, his protection in our lives,
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  in the actual circumstances we inhabit.
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  We don't just need stories that are inspirational,
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  but then feel detached and disconnected from the
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  actual stresses we face in the workplace or
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  at home.
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  We need something that's just as real as
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  the difficulties we face when our alarm goes
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  off in the morning.
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  And that's exactly what God offers.
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  He offers us the opportunity to see his
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  reality.
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  And so when I use the word imagination
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  or the phrase imagining work in this series,
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  it's very far from suggesting that we are
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  dealing with something imaginary.
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  Rather, it's through our imagination that God helps
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  us grasp what's most real, what's most true
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  about our environment.
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  The things that are usually invisible or forgotten
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  or unseen, we can bring to mind through
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  the images of scripture and begin to see.
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  And that changes our relationship with God and
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  our relationship with the difficulties we face at
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  work and everywhere else.
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  An example of this in somebody's own life,
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  somebody that's probably familiar to some of us,
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  is the writer C.S. Lewis.
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  He has a book in which he narrates
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  his own journey of coming to faith because
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  he was a skeptic for a long time
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  before embracing theism and eventually the way of
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  Jesus.
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  The book is called Surprised by Joy.
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  And he describes an experience he had very
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  early on.
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  This was before he had any conscious religious
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  awareness.
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  And he was reading a novel by the
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  author George McDonald.
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  And the name of the novel is Fantasties.
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  And he talks about how something happened to
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  him while he was reading the novel, something
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  opened up inside of him.
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  And he writes, that night, my imagination was,
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  in a certain sense, baptized.
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  The rest of me, not unnaturally, took longer.
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  I had not the faintest notion what I
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  had let myself in for by buying Fantasties.
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  So even though Lewis isn't consciously coming to
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  a Christian faith in this moment, he's saying
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  that something has happened to him, his imagination
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  has been baptized.
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  Just by reading this novel, written by a
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  devout and wonderful Christian author, George McDonald, he
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  catches something in his vision of reality and
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  that begins to shift something inside of him.
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  Well, if this is true for coming to
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  faith, right, that this was something that caught
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  Lewis's imagination and eventually led to his conversion,
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  this is also the pattern for growing in
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  faith, leaning into that metaphor of the baptized
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  imagination.
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  To baptize is to immerse, to saturate.
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  And so if we want our imaginations to
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  be baptized, we need to soak in the
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  images of the Bible, the stories that God
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  gives us for understanding his unseen reality all
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  around us.
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  And that's what we've been trying to do
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  in this series, is just look at those
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  images that can woo our imagination, that can
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  baptize our imagination, that can lead us to
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  see things that we haven't seen before, that
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  really are there in God's care for us.
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  And this is, of course, exactly what the
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  Bible tells us to do.
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  So famous verse Philippians 4-8 says, Finally,
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  brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is
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  noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever
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  is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is
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  excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.
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  We're explicitly commanded in Scripture to set our
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  minds on these things, to invite the images
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  of what is truly good, truly noble into
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  our minds and hearts so that they can
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  begin to change us.
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  And this is what helps us answer the
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  stories that misshape and misdirect our imaginations about
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  work, those stories that we started looking at
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  at the first part of this series.
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  Because ultimately, it's as we see the reality
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  of God's love and we see Jesus that
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  we overcome the allure of those other stories.
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  Because Jesus is the one who helps us
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  reconcile with our pain.
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  He helps us find contentment as we reconcile
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  with the limitations of our jobs and the
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  imperfections of our work life.
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  He helps us reconcile with the work itself,
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  working as for him and with him.
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  And he helps us reconcile with the rest
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  of life, not worshipping work, not sacrificing things
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  on the altar of work that should be
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  kept sacred, but being able to attend to
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  everything that truly matters.
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  Because Jesus is ultimately the one who accomplishes
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  these things in us.
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  Jesus is the gardener.
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  He's the artist, the priest, the builder, the
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  king, the servant, the friend, the emissary.
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  When our imaginations are open, we can see
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  the hills full of horses and chariots of
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  fire all around us.
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  But most of all, we can see Jesus.
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  Lord, open our eyes so we may see.
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  Do your work in us as we do
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  our work with you.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
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  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
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  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
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  life.
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  podcast series, read our blog and get info
• 12:41
  about upcoming courses on Faith in the Workplace,
• 12:43
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