Between childhood and adulthood the world, at some point, crushes our childhood capacity to dream we can make a difference. When I was ten I realized I wasn’t a good enough baseball player to make it in the big league – this is an acceptance of reality. But the world (a system that leaves God out, 1 John 2:15-16) goes further than that. It destroys our dream to change the world.

But the world is wrong. Each of of us can impact human history. We can affect the world for God’s kingdom. We can realize our greatest dreams. But there’s one condition, we must let Christ keep the dream alive. King David, writing in the book of Psalms, tells us, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalms 37:4) These desires – these dreams – are more than childhood fantasies. God placed them in our heart to drive us towards specific actions for which we were designed. And when we flesh out these dreams, we’re living in accordance with God’s purpose for our lives. We must reject the world’s pessimism and mediocrity. We must realize Jesus offers another way – a fulfilling way that unleashes our potential to fulfill those cherished childlike dreams of significance.

Whether you’re chasing your dream or forgetting it, I urge you to follow Paul’s example. As he pursued his dream of knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection, he wrote: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14b-15).  Don’t curse yourself by saying past failure guarantees future failure. This is a lie. Forget what lies behind and pursue Christ and the dream he’s given you. 

As you celebrate the Lord’s resurrection this Sunday contemplate the words Jesus spoke to Martha before he raised her brother, Lazarus, from the dead: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;  and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.” 

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Those who have Jesus possess his resurrection life. We must not let death capture and kill our dream. We must not listen to the lies of death. Instead, we must walk in the resurrection life of Jesus and allow that same life to resurrect our dreams.