by: Carole L. Haines
Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4 NASB)
Dreams have a way of bringing forth our secret fears and insecurities. I had a dream recently that some former acquaintances were gossiping about me and did not know I was overhearing everything they said. They were saying that I was a pathetic wanna-be, a has-been of sorts. At that point, I stepped out of my hiding place and declared to them, “You can’t be a has-been, if you are a Never-was.”
I’m not a success, as the world defines success. I don’t make my living at what I love, writing and singing. I think secretly, I have felt like such a failure. But there are no failures in God’s Kingdom, not with our lives surrendered to the King of Kings. We may not be who we thought we were going to be. We may not have the life that we thought we were going to have, but we now have His life in us. One of the greatest things God calls us to do is die to is, self. Dying to self is no easy task. It means dying to our own dreams, hope and desires; to carry out God’s desires in ourselves. DO you think Paul envisioned being one of the greatest writers of the Word of God, or suffering as he did? I think Paul thought he would be a great Pharisee and teacher of the Law one day, but God had other plans.
God has other plans for our lives as well, greater plans, ones with eternal fruit.
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” (Ephesians 3:20 NASB)
When I woke up from that dream, I sensed that God was letting me see how I really felt about myself, and He wanted to free me from feeling like a Never-was. God encouraged me that morning, and let me know that His plans are far greater than what I had envisioned for myself, more fruitful and far-reaching. I want to be an encourager to all who are feeling disappointed with how their lives have turned out. There is no such thing as a Never-Was in the Kingdom of God. God is always working His precious plan, using us in ways we cannot see or understand now. But God is good, and His will is perfect. Romans 12 tells us:
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (vs 2)
You and I, as believers in Jesus Christ, have a wonderful promise right there in Scripture. A promise that God’s will for us is good, acceptable and perfect. We have a wrong view of the word, “acceptable.” In the Greek it means-well-pleasing, fully agreeable. So, in closing, I don’t want to be what I thought I wanted to be. It is impossible for me to be a “has-been” and “never-was,” in the Kingdom of God. I am becoming who He envisioned me to be from the foundations of the world, as I surrender my life to Him. Trust Him with your life today. If life has been disappointing, give it to the one who “raises the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” (Romans 4:17)
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