Good Morning Friends,
Today as we contemplate Christmas Dreams and New Year’s resolutions it should become evident to us all that the only transformative reality in this world comes from a relationship with Christ. All our New Year’s decisions, hopes and dreams are for naught if they do not have a foundation in the promises of God. So today we continue to contemplate our need for God’s omnipresence in our lives. And we know we need help here for the world is hell bent on its own destruction substituting its own reality and lies for the Way of Jesus. So, in the year to come we need more than a little change in behavior, and we need to be open to God working in our conscious thoughts as well as in our unconscious ones. We need a major shift in the way we live to survive…to be saved and the only thing I know of that really changes our behavior is God and God’s love. So, let me clue you into an important reality in which we must believe. The answer to today’s question is supposed to be yes. Do Our New Year’s Resolutions Have A Foundation In Dreams For God’s Kingdom?
Scripture: As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart.
Colossians 3:12-21 (NRSV)
Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.” When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
Matthew 2:13-23 (NRSV)
Message: How one measures up consciously and subconsciously depends on what one believes, conceives, and works to achieve for God. The world wants us to believe that faith is not intelligent…that marriage is not a sacred bond…that the world can satisfy…that authority does not matter, and dreams are for only the wealthy. That may be why politicians are too often more concerned about image than facts. But God can be in the dreams as well as the conscious thoughts of people. At the core of the problem is an ignorance of our purpose. Without that we will never be happy for very long. And our purpose is not to be ignored. We are to hope for redemption and revival from the inside out. You see, the world is filled with sinners that do not admit they have sinned. The world is filled with dreamers who dare not dream big. The world is filled with families who do not honor God. Living in this kind of world leaves us broken, empty and hungering for more. Thankfully our dreams can help us to connect to God’s promise of love and purpose in a Holy unity and peace. And if we have a relationship with God then we will know that God is awesome, powerful, and compassionate, empowering each of us to be kind to one another with a unifying purpose that can transform in a big way. But friends also know that God wants justice and righteousness to pervade our lives in His new covenant. Grace is not grace if we continue ignoring sin or if we ignore who we are. The covenant of love is stricter than the ten commandments. So, don’t stop short of the full and eternal promise of salvation. There are countless stories of fame and fortune that have left people broke because people thought they did not need God’s coverage 24/7/365.
And So, dreams help us to work out solutions to life’s problems. Joseph in the Old Testament had dreams and interpreted them. So too Daniel. Solomon dreamed of wisdom and Jacob of a connection to heaven through his lineage. This week’s lectionary Gospel text focuses on the dreams that guided Joseph regarding his marriage and into the safety of exile and back home again. Here Matthew paints the picture of a man attuned to God’s voice, dreaming dreams but then acting on them as well. So, Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus gives us some insight into the reality and importance of dreams and dreamers. From it we are to learn that we are born to dream, and our dreams are to be more than the hopes of a white Christmas, and dancing sugarplum fairies and even more important than the dreams of Christmas past, present and future. Our dreams are to be connected to God in something beyond time that changes Holy History. Our dreams are to birth in our life something connected to the promises of God that form our actions though love in a way to Glorify God. So we are to have New Year resolutions shaped by the Holy Spirit from the inside and out. Fill your life with the love of Jesus and you will measure up to the only thing that really matters. To believe, conceive and achieve is only dreamed unless one has been redeemed. Being in Christ, for Christ and with Christ transformed is the only way to measure up in the New Year.
Pray we ask God for guidance. Pray we be honest about who we are. Pray we be open to adjustments in our behavior. Pray we realize that we were born to dream and have a legacy of dreamers in our Christian heritage to guide us. Pray we realize the importance of dreams in living an abundant life. Pray we therefore have the grace to be more like Jesus. Pray we realize that the only thing worth boasting about is Jesus. Pray we are resolved to work for things that satisfy the soul and belong to God’s new creation. Pray we believe in Jesus. Pray we see God’s glory through the eyes of scripture interwoven in the events of our lives while still realizing it is not about us. Pray we see the logic of faith and how it engages our minds in the pursuit of God, even as God pursues us. Pray God touches our emotions with gratitude and appreciation, love and compassion, joy, and relief. Pray our faith extends beyond our emotions to create in us the continuing acceptance of God’s offer of grace until we are changed forever. Pray we are connected to the promises of God. Pray we resolve to love in a way that glorifies the God of Israel…the God of the Universe. Pray we live our dreams in the kindness and peace and purpose of Christ. Pray we put on new relationship skills. Pray we like Joseph have dreams that give us new sight, and a heavenly perspective that allows us to see and celebrate good news in our families and to the ends of the earth from the inside out. Pray we not have anxiety as God’s love transforms our very minds.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 