Living The Dream

Living the Dream

4/3/17

When a person has a dream it usually entails a grand plan of living or adventure that includes all sorts of atmospheres and situations.  Most dreams are pleasant and delightful while others tend to be dark and gruesome, all of which are signals that keep our mind in order and our lives in check.  A dream can also be a condition where everything is perfect and everyone around is happy, especially when times are good and no major concerns are lingering about.  But what occurs when the dream is shattered will our heart be so far in the clouds that we will not understand why the dream ended?  God directly deals with this fact in His Word and it is a setting to which this nation and the world shall reap unless we turn back to God and place His Ways first in our lives again. 

“Livin’ the dream” is a phrase that my ears hear almost every day.  When I first began to hear this saying I really did not think too much about what the people using it meant and why they were saying it.  As time has progressed I have heard many different people use this saying and in the setting in which they have uttered these words have all reflected back to one original content.  I guess it took me a while to figure out what these words mean and how they are reflective in our culture and societal conditions, along with what they represent to the ones who speak this phrase.  Dreams are items that our minds think about while we are sleeping and after careful medical studies, we have learned that dreams actually keep us sane.  While this specific portion of the definition of a dream will not be discussed in this message from God it is a condition that He wants us to understand that comes from Him but it is ultimately our choice to stay within these good times or not.

I was under the impression that when a person spoke these words that they meant everything was ok and that they had no cares about what was going on around them, and that assumption of mine turned out to be correct.  As I continued to watch the people in “question” I found out that the majority of them were comfortable with their surroundings and they had accepted things as a normal place setting and that they were determined that nothing was too big for them to worry about.  This phrase seems like a great concept and one that all of us should adapt our lives to achieve, but I also figured out a fine detail about this saying that has infiltrated these people and they do not have a clue that they harbor such a disastrous thought process.

It is commonplace to assume that this nation is the best that ever has graced this planet for an endless string of people gave their “everything” to live in this land of ours.  Some have even paid the ultimate price in trying to reserve their spot for the freedom that this nation gives; however, we must also place onto the table that not everyone wishes for this dream to be fulfilled and will do just as much work necessary to see that this lifestyle is thwarted.  Whatever the case and choice may be it is always the person’s choice in making their dream come true.  For the majority of people, everything that this nation offers would be considered to be the ultimate dream, one that they could spend the rest of their lives basking in and enjoying life as it was meant to be.  This nation offers the best in almost every category and as long as we are willing to get off our duffs and work for these gifts then we shall have a good chance of obtaining these opportunities.  But when the society itself has allowed its inhabitants to become lazy and strive for nothing yet still receive priority benefits that hard working inhabitants cannot afford, this act proclaims it is ok to not work priorities are wrong; but still considered living a dream.  

But as we think back to all those fond scenes of serenity and beauty that we envision we must remember that for some various reasoning, others have different plans for this wondrous dream of ours.  All we have to do is touch for a moment to September 11, 2001, and we are forced to understand that this other type of dream can break any stable union.  But do we fully comprehend that it is other people who make those choices to ruin things for others, or do we ignore these dubious choices and go on about our business?  Whether we like to admit it or not, our choices affect other people and other people’s choices will affect us as well. We cannot stem our advantages through total utopia alone, for not all of us will agree on every subject no matter how much we try and align ourselves together, remember those friends in high school that you agreed to call and write every week for the remaining of your lives?  I must admit that sometimes when I hear this phrase being used I laugh quietly to myself and shake my head in disbelief because I know that our enemy is laughing at our loudly each time we utter this phrase.  Satan understands that at some point in time that our society shall have to change because of our attitudes towards God and His receiving of the blessings that define this “living the dream”.

We have a very accurate account of this type of perfect and dreamlike setting that we can refer to whenever we want for it is located in the Bible and we do not even have to turn very far into its contents either.  In fact, the story begins in chapter 1 of Genesis and continues until the end of chapter 3 with all of the potential of such a perfect life being played out and ending sadly; the entire gambit being offered for us to understand.  God is a perfect being in all aspects that we can imagine so when He creates something He does in the same manner in which He has always created, He cannot do any other justice than this.

Genesis chapters 1-3 give us a detailed picture of what it is like to be living the true dream because it defines the plan of perfection perfectly.  Every bit of information in these chapters sets the stage for a perfect life with no interruption of ugliness present and the two inhabitants that God placed into the Garden of Eden witnessed this dream come true status every day without fail.  No one could have asked for a better living place than the Garden of Eden, for everything that was there was created for their usage and a part of their dominion, all they had to do was to keep it up and dress it so that its presence would still be perfect.  A simple task that should have been a productive dream as well, all that was required was a bit of true and pure effort.

But as we see in chapter 3, Adam and Eve have already lost their enthusiasm for their dream and they begin to slack a bit on their duties.  We can almost hear their voices say to each other as they pass by one another “how are you doing today dear? Oh, just living the dream, honey”.  The same truth can be recognized in this passage of the Bible as we witness about our nation today. Am I comparing this nation to the Garden of Eden setting?  Kind of, for I understand that this nation is not perfect by all means necessary but it is a place where God established a safe haven for those who wanted to come and to live and learn of His blessings for His people, that I am comparing.  But as there was a process of boundaries in the Garden of Eden so is there in our nation as well or at least there should be boundaries present.

The important concept that God wants us to understand here is that Adam and Eve knew that their living space and everything around them had been created in perfect order and condition and there was nothing wrong with that.  But while the Bible does not specifically write out the words that were mentioned in the above paragraph one can believe that through the unfolding of chapter 3 in Genesis their attitudes towards this type of living were presently disappointing and thus having the attitude of not caring to keep up the standards that was expected from them by God.  It is this knowing yet not continuing their responsibility is where we are at today and unless we change our attitudes towards this attitude we shall face the same consequences as Adam and Eve did.  God gave us a mind and heart to wonder about specific details without actual written words, for we are all humans both in the biblical times and now.

What consequences did they face?  I am glad you asked!  As we find out in chapter 3 of Genesis Adam and Eve’s world comes crashing down around them all due to the fact that they had allowed the perfect setting that they lived in to become their “worldly” thoughts and beliefs instead.  The world believes that we should be allowed to live our own lives in the manner to which we see fit then let others do the worrying about how things should be fixed.  Stop for a moment and think about this because it is the exact manner in which Adam and Eve had when they sinned and what they did immediately afterward that proves this statement true.  Now, God poses the same question and setting to you concerning our attitudes about this nation today.

It is clear that God places all responsibility concerning the upkeep and dressing of the Garden of Eden on Adam and Eve.  This takes all ideology of laziness and blame away from God and gives the human the responsibility of NOT allowing that process to infiltrate and then thrive inside them.  There can be no blame put on anyone else besides the human when the manner of creation is made in such fashion and perfection.  At some point between the end of Chapter 2 of Genesis and the beginning of Chapter 3 of Genesis, a great deal of laziness and worldly (Satanic influence) occurs in both Adam and Eve.  Through Eve’s words, she recognizes God’s command but adds to it which means that she understood the responsibility yet she chose to make addendums on her own, a sign of disobedience through selfishness that had crept into her life and was now on public display.  She knew there were issues that she had chosen to ignore yet advertently spoke them through her disobedient attitude while claiming a perfect life existed; follow that?

Now, how can one honestly state that this attitude from Eve is not represented in our nation today?  There is no way that we can ignore the fact that this nation is the greatest nation on earth and through this statement we can stand up and say that we do not have issues that need to be addressed quickly.  Also, we cannot place blame the situation of this nation as the reasoning for our actions against the truth; therefore, Eve’s reasoning for her statement to Satan is alive in our hearts today for it is the exact same phrase used when we say “living the dream”.  It is this transition period that causes so much of a stir in Eve’s world for immediately after she completed the act of disobedience the consequences occurred, and it is this position that we are standing in today.

Here, once again God is giving us another look at the state that we are living and the conditions that we have created.  By our own words and phrases, we acknowledge that our nation is the best that life has to offer, for while we have problems people from all around the globe find any means possible to reach our shores.  We recognize this truth and hold it close to our hearts yet we have a majority compulsion to sit around and not keep up the necessary standards for us to complete the light needed for the world.  At the same time, we are tragically failing in understanding that the issues we are harboring in order to make us more like the world are eating at our hearts and thus committing disobedience to the one who made this nation possible in the first place.

God is reminding us that His Word is alive for all time periods including this one!  Through the actions of His prized creations, we have the opportunity to see our actions and what they will bring, both on the obedience side of the truth and the disobedience once as well.  The difference between Adam and Eve’s setting and ours is that theirs has already played out and we know what their consequences were, for we continue to live in them today.  Our settings are still in question and can be reversed if we change our attitudes and beliefs BEFORE we cross that line of no return and God has to step in and really has to change things up.  It is NOT God’s desire to end our dream living for it is His desire that all mankind live in these blessings from Him.  Adam and Eve portrayed their ideas of the perfect setting and living the dream, but it was not God’s dream for them and we must figure it out real quick like that our dreams are far inferior to the dream God has for our lives.

Adam and Eve lost the truth in their hearts about how important they were to God and how perfect His gifts were to them, we do not need to follow in their footsteps here.  I know that after Adam and Eve involuntarily left the Garden of Eden they had endless amounts of “what ifs” that they discussed, but it was not to be.  Their choices cost them their living the dream status and it placed them into a world of hurt, literally.  Have you ever wondered if Adam and Eve looked back at the Garden of Eden as they were walking away?  The Bible does not say if they did or not but it would seem like they would have for they knew that they were leaving a place of perfection to now reside in a world of pain.  Kind of inflates the story of Lot’s wife in a further grotesque manner, eh.

We can still skip this devastation to our nation and to countless people around the world and all we need to do is to return back to God, repent, ask for forgiveness and He will gladly oblige this request from our hearts.  But this repentance should come from our heart and not our superficial escape plan as Adam and Eve put into place with the fig leaves.  God desires a total and committed relationship with Him, one that is eternal and everlasting on all levels and we can have this if we live under the blood of obedience.  Study God’s Word, understand not only God’s Ways but the ways of our enemy also for if we only understand one side of the story (only one Kingdom) then we will surely fall due to lack of knowledge.  Knowing both sides of the battle is a huge part of obedience and will help out when the battle arises.  Church repent, turn your hearts towards God and He will restore us back to the conditions of living a dream, His Dream for our lives.

If we do not see this colliding disaster coming and we choose not to change, the question then becomes how will we respond after the institution is gone?  Our attitudes are clearly strained now, and the turmoil while growing is still considered to be stable.  Take the entire institution away (government and the nation as it is) and how will the actors and actresses play the part then?  If we do not turn and choose God as #1 in our hearts and allow this disaster to occur, two things we can count on to occur.  The first shall be total chaos and world opportunity to strike back shall be set into motion.  The second thing to occur will be the outplaying of every unfulfilled prophecy concerning this nation and the world will begin to unfold, ultimately proving the Bible to be more accurate than ever perceived.  

We still have an opportunity to delay this truth from unfolding before our eyes, we no longer can afford to stand in our shells and not be a witness for God.  God loves us and desires nothing less to bless each child of His, but He cannot do this when sin rules our heart.  Church, let us get out an effective message to fulfill the mission that we are commanded to do, for if we do not then we are witnessing to ourselves and thus destroys the purpose of the Kingdom of God and if we do not then the living the dream statement shall become the worst nightmare that the world has ever witnessed.

DLB