March 17 2010
Kill your dreams and let Jesus remake them
Tagged Under : dreams, idolatry, theology, Tim Keller
Came across a tweet that touched on an issue I’ve prayed on, preached on, contemplated and wrestled with much of my life. The issue deals with dreams, desires and hopes in light of the gospel. The tweet said…
That little voice in yr head telling U 2 giv up UR dream…It’s a lie from hell.When you hear it.Chase Harder, Faster, Stronger
The person who tweeted it loves Jesus, serves Jesus, no doubt about that. This isn’t a condemnation of the person, so just put that to bed if you know who said this. Theologically bulletproof tweets are extremely hard to come by, 140 characters just doesn’t lend itself to it. I’m glad this was tweeted because it motivated me to blog on this subject which I’ve held in a draft state for some time now. Moving on. This phrase implies a few dangerous things in my view.
- That all your dreams and desires must be good.
- That we should rebuke any voice that tells us to lay down a dream or desire of ours.
- That Satan’s lie would never be for some to actually achieve their dreams.
I can’t see any biblical reason to believe any of those things.
1. By nature and choice our dreams and desires are wicked
We are born with a heart that does not hold Jesus as our deepest desire or our most precious treasure. Out of this sinful heart we choose to dream about many things above the glory of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah says this well in Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
We need Jesus to save us, for the Holy Spirit to intervene and to regenerate our hearts. In regeneration we find that what we used to love (sin) we now hate and what we used to hate (God) we now love. This regeneration completely tears down our old hearts, desires and dreams and it’s good and right and mercifully so. By God’s grace we lay down all those dreams of ours at the foot of the cross and through regeneration we see what God puts back into our hearts. Our dreams change, our desires change and what we’re now called to is all for God’s glory and not our own.
2. That little whisper could be the Holy Spirit
Though after regeneration, we are still in the process of sanctification and in that process we have conflicting desires. Sometimes we’ll dream about things that aren’t Godly, that don’t glorify Jesus but attempt to bring glory to ourselves. Elijah in 1 Kings 19 is surrounded by hurricane winds, an earthquake and a fire but it says the Lord was in none of those but found in a “low whisper.”
That little voice inside your head telling you to lay down that dream may be the merciful call of the Holy Spirit to repent and return to what God has called you to, and not what you’ve been dreaming about. In fact Romans 1:24 shows that one of the worst things that can happen to us is for God to give us over to our own desires. God save us from our fleshly desires.
3. Satan’s lie is that you should get some glory too
Tim Keller breaks this down for us in his book Counterfeit Gods:
“Most people spend their lives trying to make their heart’s fondest dreams come true…We never imagine that getting our heart’s desires might be the worst thing that can ever happen to us.“
Satan’s lie might not be always telling you to lay down a “dream”, it may be the lie is encouraging you to accomplish what you dream. In order to find out we better put it into gospel perspective. Is this dream or desire planted by God? If not planted by God has it been redeemed? Does it exist to bring God glory or you glory?
Only after we’ve prayed on those questions and have some clarity of response can we discern whether the voice in our head is a loving call home or a deceitful encouragement to sin. Let our prayer be that God would save us from our dreams, regenerate our hearts and implant dreams that will give God glory.
What dreams of yours have you laid down at the cross and what has Jesus put back in your hearts in exchange?
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Looks like somebody maybe over-analyzed this tweet… Congratulations on turning a harmless, sweet little encouragement to never give up on your dreams into a theological nightmare. Keep up the judgmental work.
Wow. You must have not read the first 2 paragraphs. You know the ones that said this wasn't in judgment…ok then…carry on.
As I have been wandering around on this site for a few minutes, I have become distressed at the amount of inflated theological premises… There is life to be lived in the tangible world, so I will be there living, and not here talking… Enjoy the insipid discussions, they're not so much for me….
Cool bro, thanks for stopping by. God bless.
This article really made me stop and think. Thanks for posting. I would argue that there is a difference between Idolatry (rooted in the hearts of the wicked) and dreams. I would argue that the regenerates have new desires and dreams that are differ from that of an idolater. Scripture speaks of God releasing people to their idols, not dreams. I may be posting this prematurely as I don't have my scripture references. I think this article is a GREAT check to the heart, it really made me stop and think. I love ya man.
Really appreciate your thoughts here, Kyle. Our dreams or goals can be distracting to those trying to live within God's design for our lives. They're also limiting. I've been reminded time and again that God's view of my life is much grander than my own view. We're better off resigning ourselves to God's plan instead of chasing the success we desire for ourselves. It's far more honoring to God and more personally rewarding.
My recent post "I doubt Jesus’ method of apologetics would have appealed to many of us living in the West. I…"
Thanks for commenting Brett. I agree, there is a difference between dreams and idolatry, but our dreams are often idolatrous, and before we are regenerated our passions and desires are *always* idolatrous. Romans 1:24 says God turned people over to the "desires(lusts/passions) of their hearts". Their dreams/desires/passions were idolatrous, as the context of that scripture states. So would you agree that our dreams/desires/passions inevitably point to either Jesus or idols?
Thanks for conversing on this. Much love.
Thanks for stopping by Derrick.
Yeah my life is so much different than I dreamed many years ago and I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit's intervention in my life and the work God has done in my heart to reshape the desires, passions and dreams of mine. Depending on your point of view God's either made my dreams so much bigger or so much smaller. From a gospel perspective I think he's made them so much bigger than the petty worldly success I had imagined my life devoted to.
Now whatever measure of "success" he assigns to me I receive with thankfulness and humility, but me prayer is that my life would bring God glory and whatever is necessary for that to take place, I pray happens.
We need to grab some coffee soon.
Yes I agree 100 percent, anything outside of God's will is idolatry/sin. So now the question becomes- how do we decipher Gods will from our own wicked hearts? Sometimes we dream of things that we think will bring God the most glory- when in fact the opposite is true. This becomes a matter of abiding in Him and being spirit lead as oppose to being lead by our own desires?
Yes and I'd say that after regeneration when your deepest desire has been changed to glorify Jesus that the rest of your desires should be shot through that prism(gospel perspective). And that's how we deal with our conflicting desires. That's the practical result of being spirit-led, which is made possible by being spirit filled.
But we already talked about that on our call, so I won't rehash that.
Great subject, it really made me think about what I'm doing, and what I should be doing.
Its amazing that God can show you a somewhat life-changing message through a tweet.
Can't wait to see all you guys again this summer.
Jake
Great post Kyle and great questions to follow. I have struggled in my walk to let the Spirit take control of my life in fear that what I desired earthly would never be filled with a new godly desire. After reading this post I see a desperate need in prayer for the regeneration of my heart, and to have Jesus save me from my worldy desires, passions, and dreams by replacing them with Him.
Excellent piece. I am challenged and stirred in my spirit. Thank you.
Very nice blog, overall. Just added you to my blogroll. Blessings!
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