Dream Killers
Among the youngest of the sons in his family, Joseph probably took his fair share of mocking and rough-ups from his older brothers. Yet when Joseph dreamed of his mother, father, and brothers bowing down to him, he didn’t hesitate to share with them the God-sized dream. It had the predictable effect: it enraged his family.
Joseph’s brothers waited for their chance to get back at him. When they were out with the flocks one time and Joseph came to them, they knew their chance had come. “They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another, ‘Here comes that dreamer! Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!” (Genesis 37:18–20, HCSB).
Because of Joseph’s dream, his brothers tried to kill him. He was captured, thrown in a pit, and sold into slavery. Talk about dream killers!
But Joseph didn’t stop dreaming.
Have you ever had a dream die? Have you ever shared your dream with anyone? Perhaps you have and you’ve been mocked for it. Maybe when you finally opened your mouth to share about the impossible longings in your heart, you were met with laughter or cynicism or hurt by the words spoken to you by the people you love.
Dreaming can be a lonely place. If you’re going to dream things that will set you apart, sometimes the people who are closest to you and know you best will be the very ones who are threatened by the trajectory of your life and will oppose you, try to squash your dreams, and bring you down to size. So, if you are going to be a dreamer, understand that it can be a lonely road. You are going to need to hold fast to your convictions and hold firm to the Word of God and the desires of your heart, despite the criticism or accolades you receive along the way.
What it comes down to is that you have an enemy who would love to kill your dream with all sorts of “realities,” such as opposition or lack of resources. Often the negative voices of other people, or even the wrong ambition in your own heart, can suffocate your dreams. Sometimes along the path toward your dreams, you have to make choices and sacrifices that feel like backward movement instead of forward motion.
When I married Bobbie, I told her, “Sweetheart, we might never own our own home or have a new car or a lot of money, but we will serve Jesus together.” For the first year of our marriage, to be volunteer youth pastors in a small suburban church in South Auckland (near where Bobbie grew up), we both worked multiple jobs. Bobbie was a secretary in a pharmaceutical company, and I was in sales. I had after-hours jobs cleaning the bathrooms in an automobile factory and stocking shelves in a supermarket—all because we were passionate to serve God. And we desired to, when the time was right, build a local church that was enjoyable and warm and filled with people who were influential in their own spheres. In many ways it wasn’t easy as we gave our all in the local church, but it was the very sacrifices that we made then that enabled us to keep dreaming now, confident in a God who always provides. We could have let the setbacks take us off course, but we held fast to the vision we had for our lives.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just live on a dream I had way back in the past. I want to keep dreaming new dreams. Being a dreamer isn’t past tense; it is an ongoing part of life! Just like Joseph of old, dreamers never stop dreaming. Despite the obstacles put in front of them, the limitations imposed on them, or the dream killers that get in the way, dreamers just keep on dreaming!
Surrounded by Dreamers
In order to keep dreaming, you need to surround yourself with other dreamers. Find people who will walk alongside you and remind you of your dream when setbacks make you want to forget. Keep company with people who inspire you to dream and breathe encouragement into your vision—people who will keep you on course.
Winston Churchill, the Nobel Prize–winning, twice-elected wartime prime minster of the United Kingdom, wasn’t always as well regarded as he is today. In fact, he struggled in school and failed the sixth grade. Later, he faced many years of political failures until he finally became the prime minister at the ripe old age of sixty-five. Churchill was a dreamer—he dreamed of making a difference in his nation. And when he finally got elected to office, he credited his wife of almost thirty-two years for continuously dreaming along with him and believing in him, despite his failures and the financial hardship and public ridicule they endured. Clementine Churchill is not often spoken of, but history may never have recorded her husband’s achievements without her support of his dreams.
Who is cheering you on? Who is offering you consolation in the form of encouragement while your dreams are yet to be realized?
Being around other dreamers is a catalyst for dreaming bigger. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (KJV) or “cast off restraint” (NIV11). The New Living Translation says they “run wild.” The Message translates it like this:
If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.
A dream will indeed cause you to sacrifice and make the hard choices, but perhaps more importantly, it will also cause you to choose your friends wisely. Who are you dreaming alongside?
Determined to Succeed
Nobody begins to pursue a dream believing that it will fail. Sounds simple, right? But a lot of people don’t necessarily dream to succeed; they dream to function and survive but don’t dream of success, perhaps because it feels too indulgent.
Let me assure you there is nothing wrong with success. The God who wants to give you abundantly above all you could ask or think is the same God who wants to see you succeed!
Joseph’s dream was a dream of success, and it came to pass. Years after Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt, this happened:
Pharaoh said to Joseph, “… You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 41:39–43)
God isn’t going to give you a dream of mediocrity. Believe it or not, success is a biblical word! See what the Lord said to Joshua when he took charge of the nation of Israel:
Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:7–8)
Good success.
Define success however you like, but the way God defines it is different than the way the world does. It’s not about acquisition or self-indulgence. Success in the kingdom of God is so often about service.
Good Success Versus Bad Success
Most people have the will to live; fewer people have the will to succeed, because of the personal cost involved; still fewer people