Is Not Pursuing Your Dream A Sin?

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about creating art for the Lord.  Today I want to expand on that post just a bit.

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When the Israelites left Egypt, Moses received specific instructions about how to build the Ark of the Covenant.  Once the construction began, who were instrumental in creating the Ark?

Artists.

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You are an artist of some sort.  You may be a writer, painter, or gardener.  Maybe you wanted to be at one time, only to set it aside for some reason.  You had  a dream and it still lives there deep within you.

Is not pursuing that dream a sin?

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I’m not 100% sure of the answer to that question.  I can tell you that I think it is.  Why?  Because the Lord wants to give us the desires of our heart.  That begins with Him being our number one desire.  Our dreams and desires should then flow from Him.

Pursuing those dreams is an act, a way, of obeying and worshiping the One they come from.

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The Israelite artists and craftsmen uses their abilities, talents and gifts to create the Ark, the precursor to the Temple.  Now there is no building that acts as a temple for our Lord.

We are the temple of  God now.

Just like the Israelites, we should use our abilities to build the temple of God.  We should build up our brothers and sisters who are the temple as well.  Our dreams and desires should further the kingdom of God in the world and within us.

So, I will leave you with the question I asked earlier.

Is not pursuing your dream a sin?

From The Archives: Make It A Habit To Dream

This is a blast from the past, from around two years ago.

Yesterday I wrote about dreaming.  Let’s say that you have now decided to allow yourself to dream.  You are pursuing God with all you have and you believe that God has given you a dream. Your dream is to hike the Appalachian Trail, help build a house with Habitat for Humanity, run a marathon, or go on a mission trip.  So you wait on the dream to happen.  After all, God has given you the dream.  He will make it happen for you, right?  And you get frustrated because the dream isn’t happening.  You begin questioning whether the dream is really what God wanted you to do after all.  It just isn’t coming to fruition.

I understand this.  I’ve been there.  I’ve had this happen and had the frustrations.  Why isn’t the dream happening?  I think the answer is pretty obvious.  God will give you the dream, but you have to do your part to realize the dream.  If you want to hike the Appalachian Trail, you  had better make a habit of knowing everything you can know about the AT.  You had better prepare.  You have to do a lot of hiking.  You get the right gear for the trip.  You do something everyday to make your dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail a reality.  Same if you want to run a marathon.  You run.  You buy the right shoes.  You might join a group that will encourage you.  You do the small, daily things needed to run 26.2 miles.

In other words, you make your dream a habit.  It’s ok to dream, but it’s not going anywhere if you don’t something about it.  It will take some sacrifice.  Jon Acuff says that you might have to get up at 5:00 am when the rest of your family is asleep.  I agree.  When you have a dream and want to make it real, you will do whatever you have to do to see it through.

And that ends up being the question, right?  Is it really your dream or just something that you think would be nice.  The difference is in what you do to make it happen.

What is your dream?  Are you willing to do what it takes daily to make it happen?

Some Day

Some days I sit down to my keyboard and I don’t know what to write.  I wonder if I will ever write again.  Will I have anything useful to say?  Will the ideas keep coming?  Will they suddenly stop and I will never write another post again?

Some days I don’t know where I’m headed.  How I got here.  What happened?  Am I headed in the right direction?  How will I know if I “get there?”

Some days I wonder if I have a dream.  Is it too late to reach it?  Should I just throw my hands up and quit?

Some days I wonder what His will is.  Am I in it?  Is this really it?  What about tomorrow and next year?  What will His will be then?

Some days.  We all have them.  Usually we say something to the effect of “I’m having one of those days.”  Those days are some days.  Thankfully they aren’t every day.  If every day was a some day or one of those days, then we might give up and lose heart.  So, every day most days are not some days or those days.

No, fortunately some days and those days and every day will end.  We have  a Hope if we know Christ.  A blessed Hope.  Why?  Because Some Day, He will return.  What I have written about all these years will be here.  I will be where I am headed.  My ultimate dream will be realized.  His will, will be done.

Some Day.

Do you ever experience some days?

Is It Wrong For A Christian To Dream?

Is it wrong for a Christian to dream?

Or to put it another way, is it wrong for a Christian to pursue their dream?

The easy answer to this would be to say no and move on.  Of course it isn’t wrong for a Christian to dream.  Where would we be without being able to dream.  The problem we face is that it isn’t really a yes or no question.  Here’s why.

First, we have to determine our ultimate dream.

Jesus told us to see the kingdom first.  If I am pursuing my dream at the expense of seeking His kingdom, then it’s really in vain, right?  It doesn’t matter what I do here on earth.  It doesn’t matter what we accomplish.  The kingdom should come first for all of us.  Our dreams should move us further in our seeking the kingdom of God.

Second, whatever we do, we should do for God’s glory.

Obviously our dreams cannot conflict with this.  If our dream does not bring God glory, then perhaps we need to reevaluate our dream.  Our dream may be going in the opposite direction of what it should be.  Our dream must be measured against this.  Our dreams should bring God glory as much, if not more, than any other area of our life.

So the answer is yes, we should dream as long as our dreams are in alignment with what God wants in this world and brings Him praise and glory.  The answer is no if our dreams are in conflict with the life we profess and the Lord we claim.

Do you have a dream?  Does it conflict with the Lord’s purpose for you?

I Have A Dream

Those words were uttered before many of us were born.  That dream has made progress since that time, but it has not been totally fulfilled yet.

Many of us who blog have dreams.  We work at our day job hoping to make the jump to our dream job.  There’s just one problem.

For many of us our dream job or our dream is selfish.  It’s all about us.  It’s focused solely on our own benefit.  It doesn’t focus on what it will do for others.  It’s about getting me out of this drudgery into something that I can be excited about on Sunday nights or Monday mornings.

Dreams have a strange way of taking us on a detour.  Take Jacob’s boy, Joseph.  He dreamed some dreams.  His family would bow before him.  He was special.  He had the coat of many colors.  His dream landed him in a pit.  Then slavery.  Then jail.  Then as the second in command of a nation.

Martin Luther King had a dream.  His was dream of equality.  Not superiority.  Equality.  Where the people of his race could walk side by side with others.  He preached it.  He proclaimed it.  He walked and he marched.  It landed him in jail.  Threats were made on his life.  Finally, he was assassinated.  Why?  Because of a dream.

Dreaming can be dangerous.  Why?  Because if it is a dream that really matters, a dream that challenges and changes people, then you will meet resistance.  You will make enemies.  You might die.

Is your dream worth that?  If not, then it may not be much of a dream.  It may only be a hope and a wish.

That’s the difference between a selfish dream and one that wants to help others.  One might change you and your circumstances.  The other may change the world.

Do you have a dream?

The Weekly Round-Up 2/25/12

Thanks for stopping by to see what happened in Deuceology Land this week.  It was a pretty good week.  Traffic seems to have been up, but best of all comments have increased.

Sunday’s post was How To Be A Linchpin In Your Church.

On Monday, First Church Year #5 continued our first year in our new church.

Tuesday was a good day with What Size Is Your Crayon?

Wednesday’s post proved popular with Stop Living The Dream.

Thursday had the post of the week with Southern Great Commission Baptists???

Friday ended the week with Skip Like A Calf.

I added a Speaking Schedule page.  Nothing is there yet, but as I begin my campground speaking in May, those dates will appear.  Also, any other opportunities will appear there as well.

Thanks for your support of Deuceology.  You are what makes this thing enjoyable.  I love your visits and your comments.

 

Stop Living The Dream

Maybe you have heard it this week.  Maybe you have said it.

Someone asks how you’re doing.  How do you respond?  “Living the dream!!!” is often the answer.

That’s awesome, isn’t it.  So many people who you run into answer back that their life is the dream they have always wanted.

Right?

Is it?

Are that many people really living the dream?  I don’t think so.

It’s become a cliché’, like so many other sayings.  People say living the dream just give the facade that their lives are exactly like they have always wanted.  They want to give the perception that their lives are awesome and couldn’t be better.

How many people are really there?

I don’t think that many.

Very few people are living the dream.  If so, there wouldn’t be so much divorce.  If so, there wouldn’t be so much of pursuit of happiness in things that don’t really matter.

Stop living a cliché’.

Stop living the dream.

Where is your dream really coming from?

In the days when Samuel was young and serving the Lord, word from the Lord and visions were rare and infrequent.

I think it is that way today.  Why?  Because most people aren’t pursuing God through Christ.

They don’t know Him.

They don’t believe in Him.

They don’t trust Him.

They aren’t turning to the Source.

They may say they are living the dream, but they don’t even know the Dream-Giver.

They want to live the dream, but He wants to give them the Dream.

My prayer is that they their eyes will open and they will see the One who can truly give them the Dream.

Then they really can live the Dream.

Let’s make sure that we are.

Are you living the Dream?

140 Words (more or less) About My Dream

It’s Twitterific Thursday again.  I’m writing 140 words, more or less, about my dream.

In 1999, I announced a call to my church at the time to the gospel ministry.  At that time, based on what I was thinking and feeling, I did not know of any alternative.  I began preaching and ended up spending a year in seminary.

What I have discovered since then is that I do not want to be a preacher/pastor.  At least, not in that form.   In fact, I cannot fathom actually being in that kind of position.  Thankfully, the Lord never allowed me to get any of those type positions that I interviewed for.

However, I would love to be a speaker.  About faith.  Live.  In person.

What I would really love to do is to take these blogs I write and adapt them for speaking.  That way I could combine two of my favorite things: blogging/writing and public speaking.

Would you pray with me on this becoming a reality?

What’s your dream?

The Dream of Freedom

Today is Independence Day.  Most Americans are celebrating the freedom gained over two hundred years ago by eating hamburgers and hotdogs.  Many are celebrating by drinking beer as this has become the number one holiday for beer consumption.  Many to most will attend a fireworks display like I will be.  With all of this celebration of freedom that is happening, the question has to be asked:  How many have achieved the dream of freedom?

Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about.  When I ask people about their dreams they mention things like financial freedom, retirement, and traveling.  Maybe they consider freedom owning and riding a Harley-Davidson every chance they get.  Some will talk about playing all the golf they want or opening their own business.   Jon Acuff has written a book called Quitter that is next on my reading list about achieving your dream job.  Others dream about winning the lottery, which is, let’s face it, a pipe dream.  However, all of these things are about  DOING.  In essence, though, I believe that freedom is more about BEING.  To put it differently, it about who you are.  That leads to the question, do you dream more about what you want to do than who you want to be?  Which is more important?

So where do we find freedom?  How can we truly find the personal Independence Day that we all dream of?  Where do we begin?  It has to be with who we are.  Jesus said in John 8:35 that we are all born slaves of sin if we commit sin.  Who are we?  Slaves.  Of what?  Sin.  Why?  Because we commit sin.  How do we gain our freedom?  “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”  How can you achieve the dream of freedom?  Through the Son making you free.

Who do you want to be?  Slave of sin?  Or free through the Son?  This is where you have to begin in your search for the dream of freedom.  Are you a slave doing a lot of things searching for freedom?  Or are you free through Christ?

My New Habit

Yesterday I wrote about making your dream a habit.  I read this quote from Zig Ziglar recently,  “Motivation gets you going, but habit gets you there.” That is when I realized that I had already begun my new habit and that making this a daily habit was what it takes to achieve my dream.  Today, I  want to share with you what my new habit it.

My new habit is to blog daily.  I write something every day.  If you have been reading Deuceology you have seen the results, but you may not have realized that this is a relatively new adventure for me.  You see, I’m going to share my dream with you.  I want to be a writer.  What I mean by that is that I want to be an honest to goodness published author.  I want to write a book.  So I started blogging a few years ago with a blog called Odd and Sundry.  If you follow  that link, you will seek one of the most amateurish blogs imaginable.  I would write sporadically.  I would write a couple of posts on the weekends and that would be it.  I would write for a few weeks and then I might not write again for a couple of months.

Then I created a new blog called The Confessions of St. Larry The Deuce.  I was a little more consistent, but only occasionally would I blog daily.  Only occasionally was I anywhere near making my dream a habit.

Now I have created the blog you are reading now.  Deuceology.  I have been writing this for daily for almost a month now.  They day that it takes about twenty-one days to create a habit.  I can testify.  The more I make this a daily habit, the more ideas that come to my mind.  The more I make this a daily habit, the more I see that my dream may become a reality.

Before I go, let me make sure you know what my dream is.  I want to write a book.  I have had tons of ideas this week.  None of it is groundbreaking.  It’s just an idea for something that I want to share.  It’s just my dream.

I want to thank you that read Deuceology for joining me in this journey.  I look forward to sharing with you my progress and trying out many of the ideas I have.  In a sense, this is the testing ground for what I want to write.

What is your dream?  What do you need to make a daily habit to achieve it?