From early childhood, even before we are understand what it
means, we are told to follow our dreams.
The fact is: this is very bad advice.
Generally speaking, you should
not follow your dreams.[1]
Why is that? We are
all fallen, every one of us and every part of us. We not only do bad things, we want bad things
and Christian and non-Christian alike we are masters at convincing ourselves
that what we want is good for us and others, regardless of the facts.
As Christians we claim to live God-centered lives, but the fact
is our dreams for the most part show that we are living self-centered
lives. We have the same dreams as those
without God—we want fame first and foremost, but we justify this by claiming we
will use our influence to spread the Gospel.
Want proof? When is the
last time you heard someone say: I want
to bring the Gospel to an unreached people.
Or, I want to start a business so
I can provide a community with needed goods, services, and jobs. How many hopeful pastors do you know? Have you ever heard someone say, I wish I could devote myself full time to
the study and teaching of God’s word?
I know of plenty of people that practice hours a day in
order to dribble quicker or throw a ball more accurately. These aren’t bad pursuits, but they are
secondary. Athletic, artistic, and even
intellectual pursuits are of some value, but not absolute value. And in many cases, the time we spend on these
pursuits could be much better spent.
For example, there are thousands of languages without a
translation of the Bible, but how many Christians do you know that are studying
Greek so that they can translate the Bible into one of these languages? Our dream should be to advance the kingdom of
God, but instead we dream about advancing the kingdom of self.
Now it is by no means wrong to be famous and I wish there
were more Christians in high and influential positions. But this dream is beyond the grasp of most
and for the most part attaining this dream (or even pursuing it!) comes at too
high a cost.
Think about the time a person needs to devote to becoming a
professional athlete. Again, this isn’t
a bad thing, but are there not better ways that time could be used? Think the type of charitable work you could
do in that amount of time? You could learn
to be a doctor, you could study the Bible, you could better yourself in a number
of ways and in so doing be better equipped to share the Gospel with
others. What is more the influence you
have as a social worker or as an honest judge will be far greater than the
influence of any celebrity.
Instead of dreaming of being famous, we should dream of
being parents, of being teachers and nurses, accountants and pastors. We should dream dreams that others centered
and serving and not self-centered and self-serving. These people impact lives in far more
significant ways than any athlete or actress.
Instead of instinctively following whatever dreams you may
have, take a step back and try to have a dream worth pursuing. When you’ve found one worth having, then
pursue it with all your heart and for the glory of God.
[1] The
longer you are in Christ and the more you are formed by Him the more your
dreams will be shaped by Him and His dreams will become your dreams. So to the extent that you are in Christ you
should follow your dreams.
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