“Our future-tense faith is grounded in God’s past-tense faithfulness. That is where holy confidence comes from. We live at the intersection of two theologies, two realities. The faithfulness of God is pursuing us from the past. The sovereignty of God is setting us up for the future. We live at the intersection of so far so God and the best is yet to come.”- Mark Batterson
“A problem cannot be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”- Albert Einstein
Mark Batterson concludes Day 14 of Do It for a Day as he talks about the concept of prophetic imagination. First, Pastor Batterson defines the concept as “seeing the invisible, hearing the inaudible, and perceiving the impossible.”
In addition, prophetic imagination consists of three components:
1. Supernatural foresight. Such foresight sees further than others see. Also, it sees before others see. However, the next two dimensions, Mark asserts, carry equal importance.
2. Supernatural insight. This insight: (a) sees beyond presenting problems to recognize root causes; (b) sees the way different parts of an ecosystem affect each other; and (c) identifies unintended consequences before they occur. Because you need to see a pattern in order to interrupt it, this insight is critical when it comes to hacking habits.
3. Supernatural hindsight. As Steve Jobs once famously said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward.”
Finally, French artist George Seurat began painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte in the spring of 1884. Although impressionism was in vogue, Seurat broke with tradition. As a result, he used a novel technique called pointillism.
But if you stand too close to the 7′ x 10′ painting, it simply looks like a hodgepodge of dots. When you back up, though, the dots look like a masterpiece. Mark explains:
“Life is like that painting, isn’t it? It’s awfully easy to lose perspective if you’re too close to it. You need to widen your aperture. Then, and only then, will you see the metanarrative God is writing.”
Today’s question: What Scriptures help you see where holy confidence comes from? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Habit formation = point-to- point hike”
