Rules are good…..sometimes.
Rules are bad…sometimes.
Rules are meant to keep order and control…all the time.
Seriously, I think we can all agree that rules have their place. I’m glad there are rules in sports. I would hate to think of the chaos if there wasn’t. There have to be rules of the road. Again…chaos if not. Rules for what is right and wrong is important. Paul said he would not have known sin if it hadn’t been for the law, he would not have known what covetousness was if the Bible had not said, “Do not covet.”
But rules can also be downers. They can put the kabosh on some thinking and dreams. “You can’t do that. It is not possible.” If left up to rules, David would have never challenged Goliath. What he wanted to do was improbable.
Rules have tended to limit our thinking. Have you ever wondered why, when we were kids, the Bible stories read to us were meant to inspire dreams of impossibilities being made possible with God? And yet as adults, the same stories become observations of how it was “once upon a time.” Why is it that what I learned as a kid is now inapplicable? Why do we become so tame in our thinking?
Have we bought into the rules which say, “God doesn’t work that way anymore?” I’m not talking about wackiness. I’m not talking about the stuff of hucksters. I’m talking about the whole idea of taking God at His word and trusting. Trusting and doing. Trusting and stepping out. Trusting and dreaming the impossible to become possible.
What do you think? Why do we stop dreaming?
Just this morning I read Matt 18:1-5 and I thought about what it means to come to Christ as a little Child.
I thought of their trust in Adults or things like Santa. I think of their ability to laugh and love, to forgive, and to accept discipline. They might not like being corrected (my toddler tells me when he doesn’t like me telling him “no”) but they accept our authority (most of the time). But adults seem to have lost so much of what makes a child a child. Even our faith in God and Him doing the impossible.
Great and timely post for me.
I think you are right in so many ways TC. We have forgotten how to be children. Glad it was timely.
Yes, I think the dreams can disappear, they have for me. I don’t know where the dreaming has gone. The dreams seem to have flown out the window like a piece of paper does when you roll down the car windows at 60 mph. I know for me, I no longer even remember what I used to dream about let alone what “road” I was on when they flew out the window. I’m at an age now where I’m beginning to think that dreams are better spent on folks younger than myself …
Why do we stop dreaming? I haven’t a clue …
your word picture is vivid David, i.e. the paper and car windows. I think some of mine flew out the window as well. 🙂 Fortunately, God has allowed me to dream new ones. Your last sentence may be the answer of many.
I think when you are a kid anything does seem possible. From Santa Claus to God answers prayers. As time goes on you realize what isn’t possible. Not because someone says so but because the laws of nature don’t jive with the “impossible” dreams. Some people I suppose continue to spend too much time wishing and hoping. Some get real, get action oriented, gain confidence, and make possible dreams come true.
Others buy lottery tickets and stay in fantasy land.
You make a good point Jeff. Sometimes we have to stop just dreaming and do something. Your last line made me chuckle.
Don’t we stop believing kid’s stuff when we understand the boundary conditions of the reality that we perceive?
In other words…we grow up?
I think we stop dreaming and start focusing on rules when something bad happens that we know wouldn’t have happened if only we (or someone else) followed the rules. My youth pastor once said that the instruction manual is a book written in blood. (It was a rather extreme example, but it did make sense. People started putting “Be careful, the beverage is hot” on cups only after someone got burned.) So when we see that some rules do indeed make sense, it is easy to think that “Well, they improve life, we need more.” And from then on, it’s a snowball down the mountain. God gave 10 commandments to Israel and they made it into 613. Jesus narrowed 10 to 2, and yet there’s a whole bunch of manuals for Churches these days.
I say we stick to two rules Jesus said are most important and the rest will fall accordingly, without limiting God’s abilities to work miracles.
I totally agree with your assessment Zee, especially adding rules thinking it makes sense to do so. However, I like your last line the best.
We get tired I think. We strive in the flesh and it comes up short every time. It is only in the strength of our Father that we’re able to press on, to run the good race. Not to mention that when we’re living in the presence of a miracle, or God is “setting a table before us in the presence of our enemies,” it’s not comfortable, it doesn’t make sense to what our senses know to be true… but it is our spirit that is lacking. May He open our souls to His sovereign hand over His creation and live it like the kids we are.
So true Floyd. Fatigue I’m sure plays a part in it. We pursue and tire of the pursuit. I like the idea of being open to His sovereign hand and us being kids.
I think a lot of times we stop dreaming because fear kicks in. We see our limitations and it paralyzes. I love the faith of children who haven’t yet been swayed by what adults allow to sway them too often. We take our eyes of of the truth of what He can accomplish.
I think you hit on what I was reaching for Eileen. Children have not yet been swayed by adults who take their dreams away. Sort of like the new follower of Christ who is excited but has older ones standing around saying, “Wait for awhile.”
Age kick in for me and I thought I was suppose to let my dreams go. But every once in a while I let my mind soar to great heights. I am still dreaming of our own house someday, one big enough to house a few missionaries needing places to stay for free. I love the vision that comes up in my mind when my day dreams take over. Then I must land and walk in the real world in what God has provided for us now or I will be discouraged and not thankful. And there are the times I think about buying a lottery ticket because “someone has to win it.” I really can let my mind go on that dream…house for us, our kids, new cars, vacations for all, house for my Mom, no more nursing home and a full time staff and a few houses for missionaries to stay in…notice how the missionaries took last place when my dream of winning the lottery took over. Hummmmmmmmmmm wonder what caused that? I love to day dream a little, just a little, too much and disappointment sets in. I think God can do the impossible but would it be good for me???? Just a few simple thoughts my brother.
Nothing wrong with daydreaming Betty. I have dreams of “what if…?” but I reign myself in knowing only when it happens will it be worthwhile to think about. 🙂 Don’t beat yourself up though. At least there is still that “something for missionaries” in there. I suspect it will move higher if it were to happen. Thanks for your honesty Betty.
Sam and I are reading a book together, “So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore: An Unexpected Journey” and there was a quote I read last night that I thought would apply to this discussion:
“One of the most significant lessons Jesus taught his disciples was to stop looking for God’s life in the regimen of rituals and rules. He came not to refurbish religion, but to offer them a relationship. Were all those healings on the Sabbath, and the recording of them, just a coincidence that he found more sick people then? Of course not! He wanted his disciples to know that the rules and traditions of men get in the way of the power and life of his Father.”
Great quote Zee, “He came not to refurbish religion but to offer them a relationship.
I like that one also Betty.
It’s a really cool book. Haven’t finished it (trying to read it slower than usual so Sam can keep up…), but so far, I’m 50% done and it’s great.