With October 31 coming soon and Thanksgiving right around the corner I’ve been thinking about two related topics… “What is a nightmare?” and “Why do I eat too much?” So here are a few thoughts…
In order to understand what a nightmare is I had to take a good look at my imagination and dreams of the future...which, by the way, are vital gifts from God. Because I cannot see, hear, or touch God, He has given me this divine image ability to relate to Him through my imagination. This is probably making some of you wonder where in the world I’m going with this. Hang on, it gets better.
As Paul Tripp said in his excellent book Lost In the Middle, “The ability to project forward and think about where you would like to be is a good thing. Responsible living requires us to plan, so we must be able to see our goals [think, dreams or hopes] in order to reach them.” But he goes on to warn us about the flipside of our ability to dream about the future. “Your dreams will compete with the Lord for your imagination. Dreams are compelling because when you are dreaming, the world and all that is in it is utterly compliant. When you dream about a world that is imperfect, you usually call that a nightmare.”
“Compliant...” yeah, that is the part that kicked me in the teeth. Of course it’s a nightmare when I don’t get my way. Standing at the airline baggage claim because something “important” (like my luggage) was lost or stolen, I can hear myself saying, “What a nightmare!” Life is a dream when it goes my way and nightmare if it doesn’t. So what does that say about my dreams?
I’m sovereign...in my dreams. I direct the universe of my imagination and all goes well. Because I am in control I feel meaning and purpose. Living the dream give me identity (the one I’ve created) because I know exactly who I am and where I’m going... I’m in control. But that’s the real nightmare. I’m not the real Creator and the real Creator made me in His identity, therefore I am alive to fulfill His dreams (think, will) for my life. If I find greater delight in my dreams then when I face resistance towards the fulfillment of my dreams then I will tend to vilify or look at those who resist me as the enemy (usually my wife but ultimately God himself).
When man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD. Pr. 19:3
Well, Happy Halloween, all you dreamers. Hope your worst nightmares don’t come true.