Lust & Imagination
Dear Mosaic Family,
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ gives us the manifesto for the Christian life. He tells us how to enter the Kingdom of God: "Repent and believe"; He also gives us the roadmap for how to live a repentant and blessed life. One of the most counterintuitive truths from His sermon is that God demands holistic submission, not just with our bodies, but with our hearts and minds.
Jesus is Lord not only over our behavior and belief, but also over our beholding. By beholding, I mean what we see with our mind's eye -- our imagination. God demands that we submit even at the level of imagination. Imagination is a God-given gift to form mental images in the mind. Each of us has the power to think in pictures. Every time you use your memory, your imagination is at work. What did you have for dinner last night? How did it taste? Where did you have dinner? How was the ambiance? You see it. You feel it. Your imagination is at work when you plan to do something in the future. What are you doing tomorrow? What are you doing this summer? You imagination is in full flow when you are daydreaming and night dreaming.
The reason imagination is so important is it shapes our lives. You imagine an ideal future reality, and if the imagined reality is captivating enough, you begin to work toward it. Imagination controls the will. As with every one of our faculties, our imagination is sinful. Thus, as we repent of our sins and submit to Jesus Christ, we must submit our imaginations to Him. He redeems our imaginations and gives us power to imagine how to glorify Him.
It is in this context that we study Matthew 5:27-32, where Jesus says: "Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Join us tomorrow as we meditate on redeeming our imaginations.
With Love,
Pastor Jan
This Week's Announcements
Mosaic Members' Meeting
Sunday, February 21st, 3:00 pm
If you are a covenant member of Mosaic or being voted into membership, please join us for our first quarterly meeting of 2021!
Giving Statements
If you donated to Mosaic Boston - Brookline during 2020, your annual giving statement has been sent via email and is also available for download here. Please contact admin@mosaicboston.com if you have any questions.
Songs for Sunday
If you would like to know what we'll be singing on Sunday, you can find the playlist here.
Reopening Process
For a full overview of our reopening process and the safety standards that we have in place, visit:
https://brookline.mosaicboston.com/covid-19.