I just got the following comment on my blog from Kristine about Sunday's sermon -
"I didn't understand why you clumped all dreams together as useless and non-productive.
Your example was "I'm dreaming of a million dollars, but it ain't happening."
Did you ever hear this joke:
A man, in desperate need of money, prays to God that he win the lottery. "Please God! Let me win a million dollars!"
Nothing happens and the next morning, the man prays again. "Please God! Let this be the day I win a million dollars"
Again, nothing happens. The next morning, the man prays, "Please God! I'll take a thousand dollars. Please help me."
At this point, God felt the need the need to reply to the man, "You're going to have to meet me half way on this one. Buy a lotto ticket."
This isn't implying that God will grant wishes (hence, your sermon about dreams.) But there are dreams that come true and only come true with dedication and a constant eye on that goal/dream. We should discard the unrealistic expectations we have of God and ourselves, but why should we discard the dreams of becoming better people?"
Response -
Kristine thanks for the comments! Your point is well put and I may have over stated my point - I didn't mean to clump all dreams together as useless and non-productuve. I do believe dreams are good and very important to life and growing in the things of God. I was trying to make two points - One is that there is a current philosophy that you can create your own reality by picturing or just imagining what you want. I wanted to point out that that isn't true and we do need to put feet to our dreams -like in your joke. The second point was that if we do seek out and follow after dreams that are not from God, they could affect our lives in a negative way. We can miss out on the things God is dreaming of for in our lives.
The example was:
What if your plan your dream is to own a beautiful home with a 2 car garage, have 2.5 children and maybe a swimming pool - nothing wrong with that dream - BUT you know deep inside and feel that if only this dream would be realized THEN you would be truly happy!
BUT
What if God's plan, God's dream, God's hope for you has nothing to do with working with owning a beautiful home with a two car garage and having 2.5 children and maybe a pool in the backyard?
What if God's plan for you is to work with the children of undocumented farm workers in Watsonville?
What is God's plan for you is to be a doctor - but not in San Jose or Los Angeles or San Francisco but in Malawi?
And what if God knows that only then you would be reasonably happy in this life and ultimately happy in the next?
Hope that helps… I loved the lottery joke!
Steve
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2 comments:
Wow, I've never been called Kristine before. Karen, Kathleen, Kathy, but never Kristine. It's a new one. ;)
I like that joke as a way to tell people that God doesn't live your life for you.
What if God's plan is for me to do something else? How would I know? Although God is certainly capable, I don't know that He has a plan for each of the 6 billion people on the planet. How does free will play into this? Does God have a plan, but gives us the time and choice to see if that if that is the path we will take?
I'm interested to hear your answers. Thank you!
-Katherine
Hi - I like what you said about "What if God's plan, God's dream, God's hope for you has nothing to do with working with owning a beautiful home with a two car garage and having 2.5 children and maybe a pool in the backyard?"
Idolatry. It all comes down to Idolatry. When our dreams become more important that God's desires for us then we're putting our attention on something other than God and that's Idolatry. Dream God's dreams. Ask God for His dream for our life. It takes all the pressure right off our shoulders.
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