What Are You Dreaming of?

It’s always inspiring to read about people who have accomplished great things in their lives, like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham…

Or, who wouldn’t be touched by hearing about that African woman who started teaching other women to make baskets, which over the course of several years developed into a multi-million dollar business, and thereby giving a steady income to thousands of women in the villages around?

Have you ever dreamt of becoming such a person, doing something great for humanity, and for the Lord?

Even though these examples have a positive impact on us and success is absolutely nothing to be scorned at, yet, for followers of Jesus these kind of dreams take on a whole new perspective.

As disciples, our intention can never be to do something just for the sake of being remarkable. Our desire must be to please the Lord, that is, to follow the Spirit and to serve others, without any hidden agenda.  And the outcome of that engagement shouldn’t be measured by worldly standards.

Success in a spiritual sense is not always visible and seldom is it acknowledged. Many times it may look more like a defeat than a victory, and its special “glory” often seems to come with self-denial and suffering. For instance, take Jesus on the cross or the apostle Paul with his many drop backs.

Hence, the people who we regard as successful in God’s kingdom, probably never did it for the sake of getting recognised. They saw a need and accepted the challenge to do something about it. Mother Teresa didn’t start her mission for the poor of Kolkata with the Nobel Peace Price in mind.

On the other hand, if you start out with the intention to do something remarkable for the Lord, the chances are that you will never get there. He might put you on hold, until those ambitions have come down to zero. Or, in case you keep insisting, let you run right into your failure.

God’s kingdom includes an army of silent, unknown workers, operating in the secret, being independent of public recognition and seldom celebrated as heroes. To others it may look remarkable or not, that’s not the point.

They don’t consider themselves remarkable, but admit their weaknesses and acknowledge their total dependency on the Lord who gives them both wisdom and strength. They have their joy in the Lord and give him the glory.

Is this what you are dreaming of?