"The real danger is not atheism, but that we ask God to coexist comfortably with the idols of our heart." - Tim Keller (on Twitter)
Dreams can be good or bad. Dreams can expose fears, like being alone or replaced by a robot. It can reveal our desires for the future, like a career, or something materialistic such as a new house or sports car. It can spark a journey for positive change in society. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream for all people to be treated with equality, a dream that still needs to be realized today.
Dreams can also unveil the darkness of the heart. Pol Pot saw a new future for Cambodia. As prime minister he murdered millions of his people, including children, for that dream. Jim Jones wanted a society separated from the government's overreaching hands. He convinced nine hundred followers to live in his compound, then take cyanide. What about the countless dictators that abused their nations? Or serial killers? What dream did they have?
The American Dream has changed over the years. It first represented wealth, the ability to gain riches unimaginable. This led people to traverse the frontier for land and gold, building the family fortune. Starting in the 1930's or 1940's, we began to see the term changed to "opportunity". "A chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage" Hoover used to say. Unfortunately, these dreams were only available to specific people groups during these times. So technically it would not be the "American Dream".
Currently the dream has been personalized into individual visions for America. Some still drive for wealth and opportunity. Many envision the advancement of the human race through technology, social development, or artistic endeavors. Others desire to make life easier, removing obstacles in life. There are groups which yearn to feel safe, to create a world which we feel protected from evil or in control.
American Dreams has a common theme, they reveal the desire of the heart, the one thing that we want to pursue or fight for above all else. To make this world, or the individual's world, a "better place". This is true whether that is a person, possession, social status, or even the direction of a country as a whole.
But what is it that God really desires for us to pursue? To dream?
Restoring Dreams with the Gospel
The fall corrupted God's creation since the beginning. God originally formed the garden to be cultivated and beautified by the created man. He wants us to bear the image of a restorative God. Love, forgiveness, grace, gratitude, generosity, creativity, truth, and even beauty itself are a product of His wondrous love, His attributes reflected to the world. But in that garden, sin was born.Instead of cultivating, we conquered and dominated this world, distorting it until it is barely recognizable. Scripture shows a people yearning for His redemptive hands to work in us, to walk with God in that garden once again. Sacrifice after sacrifice shows how much we have fallen short from that dream, our sin shining brighter than His desires for us.
When Jesus came, he did not tackle the problem with a worldly solution, but a restorative one. That was His nature. He took over the brokenhearted and made them a new creation by dying for our sins and rising from the grave. Those who yearned for this restoration were set free from the bondage of sin through our repentance (submission) to Him.
Now, instead of destroying this creation we are drawn to reflect God's attributes once again to the world, through the Spirit's work by giving the believer a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Cor 5:17, Rom 2:29, Heb 8:10). We can reflect God's restorative nature by living, and dreaming, in a way that reveals the love of Christ.
We love our enemies, willingly (and generously) give away our possessions to others, build each other up in love, put the least of these first, freely and eagerly forgive, and give credit where it is due (God alone). We are satisfied through Christ alone, and not this world.
We are truly free.
But these inherited dreams are still fragile while we are here on this earth, manipulated by sins and the attractiveness of this world. Selfishness, greed, anger, bitterness, lust, and our desire to subjugate are a manipulation of God's qualities. The resulting dreams promise to give us what our hearts desire, the people and objects that this world pursues instead of Christ. As we pursue the riches of this world, there is always a neglect what God loves.
"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever." - 1 John 2:15-17 NASB (See also 1 Tim 6:7-11, Matt 6:24, Rom 12:2, Col 2:8, James 4:4)
He does not want us to reflect this world or pursue the desires of it, but reflect Christ. Nothing else.
Do we reflect this world or Christ? Do we seek what only Christ can give? Do we see everything else as sinking sand?
Are we willing to give up everything in this world for Him? Even our dreams?
I know there are some things that I still hold onto in this world. I also know that is not the end. He does not leave us in our helpless state, eating the pigswill after squandering His inheritance. He is waiting for us to return to Him once again, ready to place the robe and ring of His inheritance on us and feasting in His home, celebrating our release from captivity.
But we must be willing to leave this world behind for something better.
As our dreams are restored to pursue the things that God loves, in a way that glorifies God, then we can show the world how much God loves us. He died for this world so we can be His children once again. Because of this, we can stop pointing to, and pursuing, the things of this world. We can be satisfied by the One Who draws us to Him and restores us. That is who we were created to be.
To Him be the glory.
“The critical question for our generation - and for every generation - is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?" - John Piper (God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself)
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