by David Brenneman
A summer camp sky spreads above me. I’m in junior high and spending a few nights away from home. As I stare up at the stars, my little heart is already filled with longings for the future—to get married one day, to be a writer, to have someone to sit with at the lunch table. As I thank God for my blessings and express my desires, it seems I hear a whisper...
Always remember to love the Giver more than the gift.
I know instantly what those words mean. I’ve seen how easily my childish heart can look at God like a vending machine. But he’s beckoning me into intimacy instead. Through the years, whenever a dream or desire comes into being, that phrase echoes in my heart again.
Love the Giver more than the gift.
We have high hopes for our God-sized dreams. We think they’ll bring us joy, chase away our insecurities, soothe our fears. But there is only One who can do those things: the Giver.
We sometimes forget that truth on the road to our dreams. We start chasing what we want instead of the One who wanted us enough to come all the way from heaven to earth.
God-sized dreams make beautiful gifts but terrible idols. Only the Giver can offer us what we truly need, what our hearts have wanted all along.
Love the Giver more than the gift.
Go Deeper
Read Psalm 37:4, Matthew 6:31-33, and James 1:17 as reminders of God's generosity.
God, you are the Giver of all that’s good—including the God-sized dreams in my heart. I recognize you are the true fulfillment of all I long for and truly need. Thank you for the invitation to go on this adventure, not because of where it will take me, but because of the joy of sharing it with you. I look forward to growing closer to you along the way. Amen.
- exerpt from a reading plan on the Bible app "God-Sized Dreams".
As I write my book "Memorial Stones of My Heart", indeed this story resonates with me concerning my youth.
As an adult, I and many many people in my life, we easily forget that last part.
"God-sized dreams make beautiful gifts but terrible idols. Only the Giver can offer us what we truly need, what our hearts have wanted all along."
As one who's been blessed with many many opportunities I can look back over my life to surely agree concerning that statement. Successes are very empty when achieved without God as being there with you through it. Successes sometimes even don't last a day if God's not in it. Something will fall out whether related to that success or something else but the joy won't last nor ever be as great as it would have been had we included God in it.
I know of a story of a business owner who likes to give the appearance that God's a part of their life, even in the business. Yet the reality behind the scenes shows a vastly different story where God's not honored. Where God's not honored no real Godly success story will ever be written.
We can't live lives that are only Godly on the surface. We are never to justify offering Jesus little bits here and there. We certainly should never take what graces and mercies He bestows upon us for granted.
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit;" 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19.
We can really do harm to our relationship with Jesus by getting excited about our dreams for the present or our dreams for the future. We do this by running ahead without him. As the writer of that reading plan said, so have I lived and maybe you too--don't get ahead of God. Don't forget the Giver.
We can't live a life only giving an appearance of a life in Christ, it needs to be from the inside out. It must be genuine. We will possibly fool those around us but we will never fool the one with whom we have to do. Please do not forget that there will be a day when our lives will be tested by the fire of His Truth. We won't need to speak up to say what we were convincing ourselves that we meant because Jesus is already going to know.
My dreams, your dreams, God-sized or small, all should include Jesus from the onset, from the very beginning. If He's not going to be in it, why pursue it? As one who ran ahead of God, I can testify wholeheartedly that is a very very dark and bad place to be.
The dreams that I was shown for me by Jesus way back in the late 80's...I ran ahead of God in all my excitement and didn't realize it until it was too late. It was what I was to be doing but His timetable and mine certainly weren't the same. Remember that was the late 80's. Had I stayed with Him rather than run ahead I probably would have began being equipped for it rather than my false ideas that I already was ready. It delayed it a few decades. Until the opportunity returned and that was 7 years ago this spring. This time I was going into it with my Savior with me. It's this blog you're reading.
The God-sized dream for me was to reach people all over the world with what I would write for Jesus. As of the other day, it's been seen 1.65 million times and in 131 countries in this world. My thoughts way back then at what I thought I could accomplish and how it certainly didn't pan out compared to what God's done in 7 years...wow.
An now I am in the midst of the book that I was to write because it was to be a culmination of my life impacted by my life in Christ. My thoughts on books to write back in the late 80's couldn't possibly prepare me for what's to come now.
My Dear Reader, take today's message to heart. Don't run ahead of God just because you think you understand what it is that God's wanting for you. Do not be wise in your own estimation but understand what the will of God is for you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
The wisdom we need to live life has to come from asking God for it, to accept it, to adhere to it, with Him by our side. Or perhaps more appropriately, us by His side.
It's something we need to recognize and to remember. We want Jesus holding our hand and not us holding His. If it's us holding His we will at times let go. If it's Him holding ours He will never let go.
Don't be afraid to dream God-sized dreams but make sure you indeed love the Giver more than the gift.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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