By Shirley Wiggins
Here I am today in my
little “world within walls” – a place in space with time to contemplate and
reflect on life. With time to sit beside
my fire on a cold December morning and enjoy a second cup of coffee, I struggle against feeling that I am living
life cut-off from meaningful activity.
Like one who can only wait at home while others go out to actively
engage life on the front lines!
“It takes courage to be
still when the world is rushing past.
…But until the Lord makes clear what is the way forward, we’ve got to
pause and wait.” Dr. Charles Stanley.
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart
take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.”
Psalm 27:14.
And, I am, but… one of
my dreams hasn’t come true yet, and time
seems to be running out on me. That
specific dream I truly believe came from the Lord - do I dare continue to dream the dream?
Dare “to have enough courage or confidence to
do something: to not be too afraid to do
something that is difficult or that people are usually afraid to do.”
Dream “a strongly
desired goal or purpose, something that you have wanted very much to do, be, or
have for a long time.”
Do any of us dare to
dream? Dare we be bold enough to dream a
dream and brave enough to display it --- walk it out from start to finish,
despite the obstacles?
Obstacle: the thing “that blocks your path” forward;
the thing that makes doing the difficult “not easy to deal with or manage,” The thing which would make my dream look
like nothing but a pipe dream!
My dream is “a strongly
desired goal or purpose,” something that I have wanted very much to do, be, and
have for a very long time. A three-fold
dream: do, be, and have!
Sometimes when I think
about it deeply, it sounds preposterous!
What some might call a “pipe dream!”
But a pipe dream is only “an illusory or fantastic plan, hope, or story…
a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective
reality.”
Do you have a dream,
friend?
We who “walk through
the valley of the shadow of death” -
earth dwellers - we need to know that we may dare to dream. Many of us probably have closely held secret
dreams that few would even guess are in our hearts.
Some of us likely dream
of a world based in “objective reality”- the reality that is “based on facts
rather than feelings or opinions.”
Facts should be
indisputable truths. Today we live in a
world where even truth is often debated and outright disputed.
Everyone has a right to
individual opinions, but when no one can agree on just what the truth is in any
situation, we end up in a world of chaos where the only certainty is
uncertainty!
We are living in a time
when pipe dreams are exalted as highly as solid dreams based in truth’s
reality.
The truth is: there is
Truth. Truth never changes its standard,
nor its facts, though too often truth is unrecognized. A man once asked a Man,
“What is truth?”
The man’s name was
Pilate and he seemed to ask out of a sense of hopelessness that anyone could
determine truth. The Man’s name was, and
still is, Jesus. He was the Truth but
He was rejected outright by many, and was ultimately put to death by some. See John 18.
His death was not
without purpose, nor without consequence.
The outcome of His death was threefold:
1) His victorious resurrection from the dead, 2) death’s defeat, and 3) the
resulting liberating freedom for those who all their lives had lived under the
fear and penalty of death. See Hebrews
2:9-15.
Dare we dream? Absolutely, yes! However, we must be bold and brave and dream
the dreams of fact-based reality. Lay
aside the pipe dreams based solely on fantastical wishes , but embrace the
faith-filled dream of certain reality, founded in the truth of God in Jesus
Christ.
If you find yourself
this Christmas season holding tenuously to a dream that seems ready to die, strengthen your grip by remembering to always
cast your cares on the One Who loves you enough to have died for you, and cling
tenaciously to your confidence in Him.
See Psalm 55:22, 1 Peter 5:7.
Who is that One Who
loved so much that He died? Christ
Jesus, the Lord.
He is the Baby Who was born
on Christmas Day! He grew up in the world
as a Man: fully human , yet fully
divine: Jesus, son of Mary, Son of God!
He is the resurrected
Savior of the entire world full of people who will dare to choose to believe
wholeheartedly in Him! If He isn’t your Savior and Lord, what a
perfect time to secure your eternity in Him:
Christmas!
Because of Christmas, I
dream, and I dream big! My God is real
and He is Sovereign. He is the Ancient
of Days, and as relevant today as the air we breathe.
He is God and there is
no other. “For there is one God, and one
mediator also between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a
ransom for all,…” 1 Timothy 2-5-6 a.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life. For God did not send
His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. He who believes in Him
is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he
has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. and this is the condemnation, that the light
has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil.” John 3:16-19
“Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid,
Mary, for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and
shall call His name Jesus. … The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;
therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
…For with God nothing will be impossible.”
Luke 1:30-31,35,37
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. … In Him was life, and the life was the light
of men. …That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the
world. He was in the world, and the
world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own and His own did not
receive Him. But as many as received
Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe
in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. And the
Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1,4,9-14.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
“… if you
confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has
raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.”
Romans 10:9-10
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according
to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1
“God, who at various times and in various ways
spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken
to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also
He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image
of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had
by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right of the Majesty on high,” Hebrews 1:1-3
“Therefore He is also able to save to the
uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make
intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:25
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but
after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of
many. To those who eagerly wait for Him
He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9:28
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the
Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by and a new and living way which He consecrated
for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope
without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. …Therefore do not cast away your confidence,
which has great reward. For you have
need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive
the promise: …we are … of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb.10:19-20, 22-23, 35-36, 39
“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7
“And this is the promise that He has promised
us—eternal life. …For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are
not burdensome. For whatever is born of
God overcomes the world. And this is the
victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
1 John 2:25; 5:4.
M
E R R Y C H R I S T M A S!!!
