Friday, December 28, 2012

What do Big Dreams look like?

This provocative piece of art has been messing with my head.  A girl who knew who she was in Christ and dared to dream big, what does she look like? What does dreaming big look like in God's world? It reminds me of a struggle Jesus' buddies had on the way to Jerusalem in Matthew 20. Jesus had just dropped this bomb on them:  

“Listen to me carefully. We are on our way up to Jerusalem. When we get there, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the religious leaders and scholars. They will sentence him to death. They will then hand him over to the Romans for mockery and torture and crucifixion. On the third day he will be raised up alive.” (MSG)

You would think that after hearing their Lord and friend say that he was going up to Jerusalem to die they would not be thinking about their own status, but would be overcome with grief at losing Jesus. I don't know what was really going on inside their hearts so I won't judge, but their actions would speak that they were thinking about "dreaming big" for themselves.  The Momma of James and John proceeds to ask Jesus if her sons can sit on his left and right side when he comes into his kingdom.  This leads to a great uproar when the other 10 pals want to get in on the action.  Jesus sets them straight in vs. 24-28: 

"Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”

My prayer for this year is that I would dream big, and in the dreaming God would place the basin and the towel in my hand and let me wash the feet of my husband, son, the children we will foster/adopt, my family, the women of my Church community, the poor in our city.  I am going to set my heart on dreaming big dreams for Jesus because I know who I am in Christ (on most days anyway).  Somehow I can relate to James and John and I have asked God to "expand my territory" and make me a person of influence.  I think his answer is what he has been saying all along. If you want to be great, if you want to dream big, serve...

You are dear to me, let's dream big together.

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