Inspiration

I've been thinking about inspiration. What gives us our good ideas? What is the source of the strength that makes us able to carry those ideas to fruition?

The picture I chose today is my son on his first carousel ride. Talk about inspiration! The look of pure wonder on his face was priceless. May we be like children in our view of God's world!

I remember as a child in an ultra-conservative school setting being told that only the writers of the Bible were truly inspired by God. I believed it, because I believed that the Bible was God-breathed and without error. And I still believe that there is no mistake in the pages of the Bible God has put together for our benefit. (Reasons for belief in this truth go far beyond simple trust. The Bible has an excellent track record.) But I think the people who instructed me were taking a truth to the extreme. Of course the things that we write and draw and think and create are not perfect, because we are fallible. But though we are an imperfect tool, God is still perfection, and His part in our inspired moments is still as sincere as God can only be.

I think the difference is in us. When God inspired the Bible authors, He took it a step further and enabled them to write and think above themselves. He literally breathed the words through them. In our inspiration, He lets us take what He thinks and put it in our own imperfect words. And I am pretty sure that God inspires every living being. It's what we do with that inspiration that makes the difference.

The only way to tap into the divine nature of God's inspiration is to be under His complete control. Then you suddenly realize all the things that He's doing through you that you know you couldn't have done by yourself. I know, because I've seen Him do it in my life more than once. When I get to the end of a project and look back, I can hardly remember writing the words myself.

There's one more important step to understanding God's inspiration in our lives. Since we are easily decieved as human beings, we have to go back to the Bible and compare what we have come up with to what God has already established. To disagree with God is to miss the mark of what inspiration is supposed to be about.

May the wonderful things we do as a result of the inspiration of our Almighty God be pleasing in His sight!

"Whatever you do... do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31