Give God your dream

Unrealized goals and aspirations can keep you chained to the boat and keep you pursuing your dreams rather than moving to the level of significance in life. When Christ calls you to serve Him, He attaches no prerequisites to His invitation, like, “Make your first million, then come sign up.” There is always unfinished business, which means you have to give Him your unrealized dreams and hopes.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, “When Christ calls a man, he calls him to come and die.” Question: Is surrendering your dreams and ambitions part of dying to self? “If any man will come after me,” said Jesus, “let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23, kjv), and a man who takes his cross has no further agenda. At that point he becomes a slave to Jesus Christ.

The problem is that our culture’s definition of success as equaling money, position and power has so penetrated our thinking that it is necessary to deprogram ourselves or else we struggle with a failure concept. Success is not money, fame, or reaching a point of significance in the world. Rather, true success is seeking and finding and doing the will of God for your life.

Combating the mentality of our culture is what Paul was talking about when he wrote to the Romans, saying, “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you (Romans 2:2, The Message).” The battle for your mind is a very real one. Never forget it.

Used with permission from Guidelines International Ministries. To learn more about Guidelines and the ministry, send an e-mail to [email protected]. You may also visit www.guidelines.org.