A man has dreams of walking with giants
Mr. Banks, Mary Poppins
To carve his niche in the edifice of time
Before the mortar of his zeal
Has a chance to congeal
The cup is dashed from his lips
The flame is snuffed aborning
He’s brought to rack and ruin in his prime
Many of us can relate to Mr. Banks. Perhaps we long for greatness; to fulfill some goal, and yet we cannot seem to achieve our aspirations. Whether we come close or far our dreams seem just out of reach. We try and try again and refuse to give up hope inspired by the support of close friends or family and stories of those who improbably achieved their dreams against all odds.
But is this the right course of action for Christians? Should we pursue our dreams despite prolonged defeat or lack of support from others? We know nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:38-39), but what about our aspirations?
Our Culture’s Approach to Pursuing Dreams
God often leads people to areas of work in which he’s gifted them and in which they take great joy. Further, he doesn’t always take them the easy way. There are certainly times where Christians and non-Christians have arrived at their dream job through great perseverance. But before we make our “Dreams or Bust” sign we should first at least be aware of certain ideologies that may be affecting our thinking. Chasing our dreams at all costs can also result from a non-biblical way of thinking. In fact, it’s a mixture of three different ideologies. Let’s look at them briefly.
The first system of thought is “the power of positive thinking,” which stems from the book by that title written by Norman Vincent Peale in the 1950s. This book was wildly popular and widely influential. Peale suggests that basically all our problems and suffering stem from the fact that we aren’t thinking positively enough. We aren’t thinking good thoughts and so we are robbing ourselves of greatness and blessing.
The second system of thought is expressive individualism (see Trevin Wax’s article). Yuval Levin has defined expressive individualism as “a desire to pursue one’s own path but also a yearning for fulfillment through the definition and articulation of one’s own identity.”[1] Expressive individualism is the mantra, “Follow your heart,” “Be you,” “Stay true to yourself.” Note that this is not a suggestion but a law. We must be true to ourselves or else we will miss out on true happiness and become intolerably inauthentic in the age of authenticity.
The last system of thought is a soft prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel – or its full name the health, wealth and prosperity gospel – teaches that God wants to bless our socks off physically and financially if we only have enough faith (for a good and brief explanation and critique of the prosperity gospel see this book by Jones and Woodbridge). Those engaged in an unswerving pursuit of their dreams might look with suspicion toward those attending healing services, but they too expect God to give them the things they want. In fact, they may think that is what God is here for, to cheer us on and support us in our endeavor to be true to ourselves.
When you combine soft prosperity gospel, the power of positive thinking and expressive individualism you get a melding of thought that motivates people to pursue their dreams no matter what, often expecting God to fulfill them. We’ll call this “prospowerism.”
There are numerous reasons this thinking is often found in some form among Christians. The lack of clear biblical teaching in some churches, the formative influence of popular culture and social media (see Brett McCracken’s article on this topic) and a lack of honest Christian friends who will speak the truth in love (here I mean more a failure to be honest with others about their gifting or realistic expectations, rather than a failure to confront others about their sin, but the reasons why we avoid it are similar) are just three.
What is the problem with this theology?
One, this theology is not in step with Scripture. We should “meekly receive the implanted Word of God” (James 1:21) and not set ourselves up as our own moral and theological authority (James 4:12). Walking in the truth of Scripture may be challenging because its often opposed by the culture and our natural inclinations, but in the end it’s the only thing that can set us free.
Two, this theology doesn’t honor God or his sovereignty. Our heavenly father stands ready and willing to help us. As a perfect father he loves us and wants to hear about our needs. Yet, as a perfect father he also knows what’s best for us, so we must learn to accept his “no” as joyfully as his “yes”. Prospowerism doesn’t teach us to “kiss the wave that throws us against the rock of ages,” as Charles Spurgeon wrote.
Three, it sets people up for disappointment and regret. It sets our identity on our achievements and earthly goals rather than on our adoption as loved children of God. This by itself will disappoint us since only God, not achievements, can give us life and life to the full. However, it also gives a false guarantee of divine assistance in achieving our goals. God promises that obedience to Christ and love to others will never be in vain (1 Cor. 15:58) but he doesn’t make that promise about the pursuit of certain goals.
Four, it hardens our hearts against submitting to God’s rule. When we resist submitting to God’s sovereign will for our lives, even when that entails suffering and loss of dreams, we risk hardening our hearts toward hearing his voice.
Five, the spiritually transformative power of godly friendships are discarded. When we place our own heart’s desires as the highest authority we deprive ourselves of the deepest self-knowledge. We need God and others to truly and honestly see ourselves. That is one reason why God gave us friendship, to love one another through honest and gracious conversation.
So how do we avoid this way of thinking about our dreams?
A Better Way
Loving God
To dismantle prospowerism we should start by refocusing on loving God more than anything or anyone. This is after all the most important commandment (Matt. 22:37-38).
Christians being martyred in the second century were mocked by Romans who asked, “Where is their God, and what profit has their religion brought them?”[2] The problem with Joel Osteen, the prosperity gospel and these other ideologies is that it doesn’t teach a Christ worthy dying for, but instead a Christ worth investing in.
Would suffering or shattered dreams dismantle your theology? Those who love God more than their dreams can learn to sing with the psalmist, “Because your steadfast love is better than life my lips will praise you” (Ps. 63:3).
Run the race set before you
The author of Hebrews exhorts Christians to throw off sin and run the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1). It’s hard to be content with our race when we are constantly eying someone else’s. God calls us all to obedience to his revealed will in Scripture, yet God has unique hidden wills for each person. Different people are given different giftings and opportunities. We must be content with the race God has set before us.
The miraculous evacuation of the British and French armies at Dunkirk in WWII was made possible in part because of the regiments that fought down to the last man to keep the Germans from reaching the beach where they would have annihilated the allied army. That was perhaps not the vision of glory those troops dreamed of. Yet, their sacrifice was a crucial piece to victory. Rather than a sense of grand messianic destiny for ourselves (see Carl Trueman’s excellent article), we should obey our orders, being content to serve God in whatever way he chooses.
Be Realistically Ambitious for God’s Glory
Though it can be abused or poorly understood, ambition is good when used for the right purpose. When we are ambitious to see God glorified we will work hard, but because we are perfectly satisfied in Christ we won’t need to fulfill a certain aspiration. Grasping the gospel more deeply grows us in our desire to see God glorified (see my post on this topic).
Yet, as we long to be used up by God for his glory we should be realistic about how. We should conduct an honest assessment of our gifting and opportunities and we shouldn’t only ask ourselves and family. “Without council plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed” (Prov 15:22). We should ask other Christians, our pastor, perhaps people working in the field we aspire to work. We should ask people whom we know will be honest with us. Above all, pray. Pray God would give us contentment to play whatever role he sees fit in bringing him glory. Ask the Lord to make it clear and to be willing to accept the answer. God is sovereign. Our perfect heavenly father loves us. He will not let us miss an opportunity he wants us to have. If the answer isn’t what we wanted to hear we can trust that God is our perfect shepherd who leads us perfectly away from dangers and into blessing according to his perfect will for our life.
Look to Jesus
The author of Hebrews tells us what the proper focal point is while we run our race: Jesus. “Looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” Many obsessed with not becoming their parents become exactly that. Young drivers nervously eying the tractor trailer next to them inevitably drift toward it or away from it and out of their lane. So it is with the Christian life. When we take our eyes off Jesus we stray from the race he has set before us. But as we keep Christ and his love for us the center of our gaze, our hearts will swell with gratefulness and love for him. Then we can more easily throw off sin and even cast aside broken dreams to joyfully run faster after him in whatever race he’s set before us.
[1] Yuval Levin, The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism, Revised edition (Place of publication not identified: Basic Books, 2017).
[2] J. Stevenson and W. H. C. Frend, eds., A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2013). 48.
Mike McGregor
Mike McGregor (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is Director of College Ministry at First Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. You can follow him on Twitter at @m5mcgregor.
