We all have our dreams – the things we hope to accomplish before we die. All of us have them, even my five year old son. Recently, our family went to Disney World for a week. As a part of our vacation, we watched a show where Mickey Mouse called out to everyone to shout out their dreams on the count of three. While Micky counted, I wondered what my son would say. Maybe he would want to be a Supreme Court Justice, an NBA all star, or a missionary taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Maybe he would say that he wanted to be just like dad, go to Disney World (check), or win the Nobel Prize. When Mickey hit three, the suspense was over. Josh looked up and blurted out, “I want to grow up to be a McDonald’s worker!” Mickey then encouraged us all by saying that dreams really do come true. Hearing my son’s lofty ambitions, I could not help but think that the giant mouse was right.
(I want to add an important disclaimer here. I am not mocking McDonalds. I am a valued customer and former employee to this American icon. However, with the sheer volume of McD’s around the globe and the accessibility most have to this opportunity in our country, it simply was a dream that maybe set its sights a bit too low. Before you think I am going Earl Woods on my son, don’t worry . . . I thought it was cute too.)
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a professional athlete. I had rotating hopes of being the quarterback for the Packers, the Point Guard for the Bulls, or the Second Baseman for the Cardinals. Looking back over that list, I can see that Mickey Mouse is a rat faced liar.
Somewhere between being a McDonald’s worker and being a professional athlete lie all our dreams. This is true in our family life, vocational life, and spiritual life. I want to reflect a bit on our spiritual dreams today.
I think at some level, most of us have spiritual hopes and dreams. We dream of being a spiritual leader. We dream of overcoming a struggle with sin. We dream of having joy in the midst of struggle. We dream of leading a friend to Christ. We dream of having deep spiritual intimacy with God. We have spiritual dreams. I have them, what are yours?
An interesting thing happens, however, as people like you and me have been Christians for a while . . . we can begin to drift from our dreams. The harsh reality of living in a fallen world, the sting of persecution, or the busyness of our days causes us to begin to give up our dreams like a high school me realized I would never bat lead off at Busch. As time dulls our spiritual ambition, Christians who have known Jesus for a number of years can begin to slide away from home. Can any of you relate to this? I bet so.
I know of many people who once had a spiritual fervor, but now have had their passion numbed by the drift of everyday life. To people who are struggling with this, God gives a particularly challenging letter in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews. This anonymously penned first century letter to believers in Rome is a call to re-awaken our spiritual dreams and anchor us to the rock of our salvation. To a group of Christians, some of whom had probably first trusted Christ some 30 years before, the author of Hebrews calls them to continued fidelity to the truth.
Over the next several weeks at Wildwood, I will be preaching through a sermon series entitled “Anchored” that will walk us through the 13 chapters of the book of Hebrews as we see biblical encouragement and exhortation for running the race of the Christian life attached to the stability that only Christ can bring. In a sense, the author of Hebrews is saying to us that our spiritual dreams really do come true, if we remain anchored to our Savior. Join us this Sunday at 9:30 or 10:50 at Wildwood as we look at part one of the series focusing on Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:1-4.