Daydreams and Peace

Ok, so we all catch ourselves daydreaming at least once in a while. We imagine ourselves getting that big promotion, meeting that special someone, winning the lottery, or we do a little revisionist history on what if we had just done this instead of that. These daydreams all seem to have one thing in common, though: they are about US. They are about our wants, our fantasies, our hopes. At best, they include our families and friends; at worst, they don't even include our morals or respect for the others in the daydreams.

In short, there is no God in our daydreams. We don't daydream of people getting saved in droves or getting healed. We don't imagine people sharing their testimonies in front of their congregations and encouraging their brothers and sisters in Christ. We don't see in our mind's eye people giving glory to God. Even when we picture what we are getting for ourselves, how often in our daydreams are we giving God the glory for it?

When we talk to others about what's going on in our lives, do we mention God? The Bible says in Luke 6:34, "A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart." Another translation ends, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." What you think about and what is truly important to you is what will naturally flow out of you in conversation.

Is it wrong then to ever discuss anything other than God? Of course not. God knows we have struggles and trials and temptations; He knows even better than we do what we're going through. But God should be in our hearts. He should be coming out when we speak.

It is when we put our trust in Him, when He is the delight and the first desire of our hearts that He will give us the desires of our heart. And when that happens, we get more of Him! We get more of the "peace that passes all understanding". We get more of the unending, undeserved, and pure. We get closer to Him and to His will for our lives.

We can't know what real pure love is outside of Christ. We can't love with that love apart from His strengthening us to do so and flowing through us. We can't love others nearly as much when we put them first as when we put God first. God enables us to love others as He loves them because His love is pure and does not seek it's own end.

All of our selfish daydreams are foolish. They are foolish because if they are not God's will for us, we will not be as happy with them as we would be in God's will. I'm not saying that for those in God's will, the ride is always smooth and paved with rose petals. Jesus told Peter that Peter would be crucified. Paul was beaten and imprisoned regularly. But they both knew the joy that comes by being close to God.

Also, regardless of what happens to us on earth, good or bad, there is Heaven awaiting us, where all of our wildest dreams will seem but moldy crumbs compared to the steak set before us. God wants the best for us and wants us to be blessed, both on earth and in Heaven, but our purpose on this earth is not to seek our own gain, whether that gain is financial, relationships, power, or anything else. Our goal on earth is to seek to give Him praise and to follow Him in the will He has for our lives. Our daydreams should be of walking ever closer with Him and about our dependence on Him for even our next breath.