Living the Dream, Dreaming Bigger
Recently a friend asked me, “Cam, how are you doing?” For some reason, without hesitation, I responded with, “Bro, I’m living the dream and dreaming bigger.” But I paused as if I just got hit with a force I couldn’t overcome, asking myself after I spoke these words, “Are you really trying to dream bigger or are you okay with comfortability?”
My wife, Abbie, and I are in the midst of a pretty big transition in our lives. We are moving houses. We are leaving a property that has been such a huge place of blessing, grace, and empowerment. We are changing scenery and withdrawing from a spot that we have learned to call and experience as “home”.
This has not been easy by any means, and in it we have found that we actually had been running from what God had been calling us to for a while. When originally asked about this move we wanted to stay. It’s a location that is convenient for commute, for finances, for the surroundings of trees, food, and people, and for simply being a house that we have become comfortable with. And for some reason, when we felt God leading us to move, we kept wanting to choose the reaction of fear of the unknown and rather than embracing the inconvenience of change we longed to stay in our comfort zone.
All too often I believe we do this in so many areas in our lives. The Lord calls us to move, to switch jobs, to stay put, to speak, to stay silent, to lead, to serve, etc. and yet, the other lords of fear, convenience, and timidity call us to the opposite and we select a doubtful and fickle decision. All too often, we actually recognize that we are called, that we have destiny, that we are absolutely beloved, that we are unique and beautiful, that we belong, that we are who God says we are, and yet, we listen to the other voices that argue vehemently with lies, pains, and twisted memories leading us not forward, not from glory to glory, but rather backward.
But here’s the reality in the midst of our indecision, in the midst of our difficult decisions, in the midst of life: our God is big and He calls us not to act from timidity, fear, or convenience, but rather to live from abundance, to speak from grace, to act from the power of His resurrection, to love with the passion of His Son, to live the dream He has dreamed for creation, and in doing so, dream bigger than our comfortability.
It amazes me sometimes that we are so quick to declare God’s goodness and greatness when everything is going or feeling right, but yet when everything seems or feels wrong, God’s goodness and greatness are not our first response. Rather, our first reaction is to declare the goodness of the amenities in our comfort zone and the justification that follows fear of stepping out in faith. But yet, we are never instructed throughout all of Scripture, throughout all of the story of God to sink back into convenience, into comfortability, into fear. We are rather exhorted that “the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7). We are prayed for as a part of the Church to be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). And this God is the One who “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power at work within us” (Eph. 3:20).
What am I getting at? What if, rather than choosing the easy road of fear, comfortability, and convenience, we actually believed God to be who He really is? What if we actually recognized our identity in the Lord and lived from the Spirit of power, love, and sound mind He has given us? What if, rather than reacting from lies, or seeing situations as detrimental, we took these opportunities to believe and dream for bigger things in our lives? What if we really asked for the “immeasurably more”?
What if, rather than posting statuses on social media about whether we think All Lives Matter, or whether we think certain things are myths, or certain people groups or terrorist organizations deserve what that they are doing, we actually dreamed of and implemented the “immeasurably more” in our lives? What if we stop living from comfortability and took a step away from the place we have constructed as home? What if we broke down these homes and started living in the neighborhood of the Kingdom that is made up of every tribe, nation, and tongue? What if we actually listened instead of speaking first? What if we dreamed of these things before acting from whatever thought is most comfortable or offers the least amount of change?
Psalm 127:1 states, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” For some of us, we have built up houses that are not of the Lord. They are of fear, they are of doubt, they are of cheapened grace, and they are convenient. And for some of us, we have even set up our homes with protection by friends who think the same.
But, I believe it’s a season, not only for Abbie and me in the natural, but for all of us in the supernatural, to believe and dream bigger; to deconstruct these homes that we built and labored for in vanity with the tools of fear and convenience. It is time for us to step away from comfortability to a true home that is found only in the resting and abiding location of God’s promises. It is time for us to move away from our convenient and doubt-filling pains and lies. It is time for us all to continue or start to live in the dreams of the Kingdom, and to dream bigger, because when we actually live in the tension of being obedient to the Lord rather than our fear or comfortability, we will find that God is who He says He is, and that the place we call home is constructed by the “immeasurably more” of God’s work that we can rest in.
As Abbie and I are making this transition, we are being reminded of the promises God has spoken over and to us. We are being blessed and guided by the dreams the Lord has placed within us and we are finding the home that we are going into is one that is filled with the community we need and the amenities that go beyond fear, convenience, and comfortability. It is filled with the immeasurably more and we are being empowered in this transition to continue to dream bigger, and to inspire those around us to dream bigger as well.
So here’s to living in the risk, to taking steps in obedience, to believing for more, and to finding our comfort in Christ and His call upon our lives. Here’s to that dream, and to ultimately dreaming bigger. Amen.
