Albert Einstein is said to have claimed that imagination is more important than knowledge. You can’t be creative without being imaginative.
Creative people actually commission their imagination to go searching for new vistas, new horizons. Out of this dreamland, they create new concepts and new ideals.
This is the case with God himself As soon as we acknowledge him as Creator, we also acknowledge him as Imaginator.
Is it possible that God could have created a world so prolific in variety and beauty without first having seen it in his imagination? And what an imagination God must have! What divine genius lay behind the marvel of creation!
It is disappointing when we tend to depict God in narrow terms. Or, if not God, then at least the way we approach him. God is a Spirit, said Jesus, and we must worship him in Spirit and in truth. By contrast, formalism and hypocrisy are what displease him most.
If we always do it the same way, week after week, our bountiful Father may well feel somewhat let down (to put it in human terms).
For if we never change and if we never use our imaginative, creative skills to do things differently, are we really living in God’s image?
To read more on this topic see Living in the Image of God, Barry Chant (Miranda: Tabor, 2012 available in eBook and Paperback) from which this edited extract is taken.