Living The Dream (Part 1)

by Stacy

"Livin' The Dream!" Most of us say this phrase with a lot of sarcasm. We say it to make the person laugh who asked us how we’re doing because we all can relate that life can just be dull sometimes. My husband and I are in a transition period right now. Yeah, you know how fun transition periods are! Lol! Trying to find a house to buy, trying to start a family, trying to find out where God is leading us next. Well, let’s remind ourselves that we each have a dream that was placed inside of us by God. This dream is specifically for us to do the will of the Creator.


Dr. James Merritt, a pastor in Georgia and once the President of Southern Seminary in Kentucky, recently spoke about living out the dream that God has placed in our hearts and how we can fall for things to get us off track.

In this day and age when everyone worships celebrities and desires to look and to act like them, it is easy to fall into the trap of comparison. The pressure is on to keep up with the Jones’. It’s not a secret that our society is teaching us everything contradictory to the Word of God. TV Shows called “Revenge”, “Betrayal”, and “Scandal” just perpetuate this way of life.

I’m not even just talking about a cultural level of comparison, but also a comparison even amongst ourselves as sisters in Christ. You and your husband may have been trying for a baby for years and your best friend just got pregnant. Please do not fall into the trap of comparison or jealousy will rear its ugly head and drive a wedge between your relationships. Our envy of others devours us most of all. God’s relationship with you is just as special as it is with your best friend. He sees you and is with you. God has a plan for your life---through you, with you, for you.

Following Jesus is making God-given dreams come to life. Remember Joseph?? He had a dream. Let’s look at the beginning of his story in Genesis 37:5,

 “Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

Now I have a brother and if he came to me with this dream, my reaction would totally depend on how he presented it to me. lol If he came to me proud and haughty, I would probably call him a punk. But if he approached me innocently and sincerely to tell me that God gave him a vision, I would keep it in mind. Who knows how Joseph presented it. All we know is that his brothers didn’t take the information so well.

It also didn’t help that Joseph’s brothers were jealous because their father favored him over all. But God doesn’t say that everything will be perfect in life. He doesn’t say to behave according to how someone approaches you. I’ve got some work to do over here. He warns that jealousy is worldy in 1 Corinthians 3:3, and that we are not to behave in jealousy in Romans 13:13. The point here is that Joseph had a dream. God showed him over and over that He had a purpose.

Warning: You will be criticized, even mocked, for carrying out the dream God gave you. For example, Alexander Graham Bell’s naysayers said in a Western Union internal memo, 1878, “the telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a practical form of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” Responding to an offer from Alexander Graham Bell to sell his telephone company, the Western Union president William Orton said, “What use could this company make of an electrical toy?”

The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advised Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., in 1903, saying, “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty—a fad.” Being from a Chevy family, my Dad would probably have a joke or two about Fords at this point.

And Joseph’s brothers mocked him saying “Here comes this dreamer.”

See me next time in the Round for Part 2!

Stacy

*Scripture quotations are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide