“It’s not just that you have a dream, but that your heart gets captured by your dream.“
from New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp; page September 11
Life is all about to whom and where you look for satisfaction of heart. The shape and direction of your life are determined by what you tell yourself will make you content. Everyone in some way says, “If only I had this, I would be content and able to stop looking for the next thing.”
- What sits on the other side of your “If—only”?
We are all dreamers. We all chase a vision of what we would like life to be. We all wish we were sovereign over our lives so our dreams would come true. We all fantasize and imagine. Now, this ability is not evil in and of itself, but combine it with the selfishness of sin, and it will surely get you and me into trouble.
- Here’s what happens: it’s not just that you have a dream, but that your heart gets captured by your dream.
- It becomes your definition of “life.”
- You no longer hold your dream with open hands.
- What was once a desire has morphed into a demand, and it won’t be long before you view that demand as a need. This thing that you once wished that you had becomes your nonnegotiable, the thing that you are unwilling to live without.
- Soon you’re unhappy, not because life has been hard or God has been unfaithful, but because this thing that is effectively and functionally ruling your heart lies beyond your grasp.
- You are despondent and discouraged.
- You envy people who seem to have captured their dreams.
- You wonder why you’ve been singled out.
- You wonder why God has forgotten you.
- Dream? Yes, but when your dream becomes a ruling thing, it wreaks havoc on your spiritual life.
Pay attention also to what happens to your relationship with God as your dreams gobble up more of the turf of your heart. God is no longer the thing that motivates you and gives you courage and hope. God is no longer your source of sturdy joy. The glory of God is no longer the thing that you’re living for. Awe of God is no longer the reason you do everything you do. Sadly, God has been reduced to a delivery system; your Savior has become a Neiman Marcus Jesus [a very expensive department store where many types of goods are sold]. If he delivers, you’ll worship and serve Him, but if he fails to deliver, you will question His goodness and love, and you’ll have little motivation to offer your life to Him.
I think there are thousands of Christians in this sad position. Perhaps this is what the Bible is picturing when it talks of those who have “abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev.2:4). However, there is grace for this struggle—grace that battles for your heart, grace that is more powerful than the draw of any dream. Own the dangerous dreams of your fickle heart and run to grace that is your in Jesus.
Let’s look and see what Matthew writes in chapter 6:19-24 (amp), “Do not store up for yourselves [material] treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].” (amp)
- What a contrast between results of earthly laying and heavenly laying.
- The results are worlds apart—literally.
- We all look through our worldview lenses—a lens through which we see and operate life by—the question is which lense are we looking through? It all boils down to two lenses (worldviews): secular (the world) or biblical (seeing Creation, Fall, Redemption God’s way or we could put it this way, seeing the way God sees).
Why is it that we cling to the moths, rust, and allow thieves to break in and steal?
- How we lay reveals our treasure: your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers].
- How we lay reveals our relationship with God: if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!
- How we lay reveals our master: no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].
So today, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.
In Christ I am SHE {Saved. Hopeful. Empowered.}
In Christ I am SHE 