Ice Cream and The Lottery Will End Child Prostitution (Sort of.)
If you could do anything in the world, what would you do?
I hope you didn't answer something like "pass my test tomorrow" or "get through work today." If you did, please go back and revise your answer to be something more along the lines of..
...make it possible to obtain knowledge by eating ice cream, which of course doesn't have any calories.
...win the lottery and have enough money to support all my favorite charities, pay for my kids to go to college, buy a yacht, and move to Florida.
...discover a way of breathing that cures all illnesses, so that everyone can be healed.
These are much more acceptable answers.
Why is it, then, that whenever we quote the famous verse, Philippians 3:14, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength," we are almost inevitably talking about situations like those first listed. Why don't we dream bigger? Why don't we aim higher? Perhaps our dreams will be a bit more serious that ice cream and the lottery, but shouldn't they also be more hopeful than passing tests and surviving work?
Because if I truly believe I can do all things through Christ, wouldn't I forget about passing my test and instead worry about things like...
...freeing the millions enslaved around the world.
...saving all the lost and searching.
...ending hunger and poverty.
Perhaps the reason tragedies like child prostitution and death by starvation continue to happen around the world is not because our God is too small, but because our dreams are too small.
"But Jessica," you say, "What if I want to be king of the world and my best friend wants to be king of the world? What then? What happens when we all believe in God, but have conflicting goals? How will we all be able to do all things?"
Well, look back at the verse. It doesn't say "through Christ who I believe in," it is "through Christ who gives me strength." When Christ is our strength, we trust Him. As we learn to depend on Him more and ourselves less, our dreams begin to look more and more like His. In fact, when Paul wrote these words he was saying something more along the lines of "I can endure all things through Christ who gives me strength."
Your dreams may be impossible for you to achieve. Thye might lie at the end of a difficult road of uphill battles and impassable roadblocks. But next time you tell your dreams to quiet down because they are simply too improbable, remember what Christ once told His disciples in a similar situation: "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).
I hope you didn't answer something like "pass my test tomorrow" or "get through work today." If you did, please go back and revise your answer to be something more along the lines of..
...make it possible to obtain knowledge by eating ice cream, which of course doesn't have any calories.
...win the lottery and have enough money to support all my favorite charities, pay for my kids to go to college, buy a yacht, and move to Florida.
...discover a way of breathing that cures all illnesses, so that everyone can be healed.
These are much more acceptable answers.
Why is it, then, that whenever we quote the famous verse, Philippians 3:14, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength," we are almost inevitably talking about situations like those first listed. Why don't we dream bigger? Why don't we aim higher? Perhaps our dreams will be a bit more serious that ice cream and the lottery, but shouldn't they also be more hopeful than passing tests and surviving work?
Because if I truly believe I can do all things through Christ, wouldn't I forget about passing my test and instead worry about things like...
...freeing the millions enslaved around the world.
...saving all the lost and searching.
...ending hunger and poverty.
Perhaps the reason tragedies like child prostitution and death by starvation continue to happen around the world is not because our God is too small, but because our dreams are too small.
"But Jessica," you say, "What if I want to be king of the world and my best friend wants to be king of the world? What then? What happens when we all believe in God, but have conflicting goals? How will we all be able to do all things?"
Well, look back at the verse. It doesn't say "through Christ who I believe in," it is "through Christ who gives me strength." When Christ is our strength, we trust Him. As we learn to depend on Him more and ourselves less, our dreams begin to look more and more like His. In fact, when Paul wrote these words he was saying something more along the lines of "I can endure all things through Christ who gives me strength."
Your dreams may be impossible for you to achieve. Thye might lie at the end of a difficult road of uphill battles and impassable roadblocks. But next time you tell your dreams to quiet down because they are simply too improbable, remember what Christ once told His disciples in a similar situation: "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).
Comments
Post a Comment