De-Meifying My Dreams

Maybe one reason people don't bother to dream anymore is because when we start envisioning ourselves doing all these big and wonderful things for God, we may end up setting ourselves up for disappointment.

Especially the quieter and more shy and reserved ones. To even dare to dream these very things is in itself a very courageous act for them. They have dared to defy the labels that they might have received from others - well-intentioned or not. But when their dreams run up against their actual conditions and their weaknesses, it's like a fragile glass bubble running up against a stone-hard, rock-solid wall.

And they find themselves broken into littler shards. Yes, I spelled that "littler". You feel smaller than you did before you made that dream. You dared - and you lost. The courageous war-cry of Idealism was no match for the stark reality of No-man's land.

But perhaps God intended all this for good. That a dream - especially if given by God - requires the de-"me"ifyng of me. That I must die from the very dream that I dreamt into life. That He must increase, I must decrease. So what if the dream comes to pass, but I do not receive any accolades or recognition for pioneering? What if it comes to pass only after my lifetime?

John 4:34-38

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

In the very same breath that Jesus told us to look at the harvest fields and see their potential… He tells us too that unseen, unknown, unpraised sowers planted the very harvests that we reapers today see.

Will you still dare to go? Will you still dare to dream? Will you still dare to hope?

Matthew 13:17
"For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

But on the other side of eternity, we will wake up - and see that the very God-planted dreams that we had to die to in order to see them come pass according to God's plans, will form the very fabric of the new heavens and new earth. They will be as real as the stones under our feet - except they will be gold to our souls, not gravel into our soles.

So I'll do these God-planted dreams God's way, even if it means that I get de-glorified, de-admired, de-exalted. Not my will, but Yours be done. The way of the Cross. For You are God, and God alone, and You will not give Your glory to another.

John 12:20-28
20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

23Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

27"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name!"

When even the Greeks started seeking Jesus, His fame and name had started spreading internationally. And the disciples eagerly passed it on to one another, as they passed the news on to their Master. But in His trademark oblique manner, He simply acknowledged it… and starkly described the hour of glorification as a dreadful glory.

So shall I still dare to ask God to send me to fulfill His dreams, even if it means I die? Yes, by God's grace… as long as HE gets all the glory, people come to know Christ, and … never mind about me. If I live, I live to the Lord, and if I die, I die to the Lord. So whether I live or die, I belong to the Lord. And I know that He who sees that sparrow drop dead will also remember me. Maybe He'll remember me a littler more. =)