The Graveyard of God's Precious Treasure

I really need to stop reading books. It seems that each time I pick up a book to read there is a line in it that jumps out and smacks me in the face. This time it is from "The Principles and Power of Vision" by Dr Miles Munroe. I picked this one up at Borders for an evening read over a coffee and of course it came home with me - even though I only read a few pages.

Here is why.

As the title suggests, this book is all about vision - finding it, holding on to it, refining it and achieving it. Right up my alley. I never got past the first few pages because I read one of those pop-out boxes that said this - 'Too many of us bury our dreams in a lesser existence, making ourselves a graveyard of God's precious treasure.'

That was it for me. I could not get past that. You might wonder what the big deal is. Let me ask you this one question - are you doing right now what you dreamed you would do when you were younger?

When we are little kids we dream dreams about what we are going to be when we get older. We want to be firemen, or nurses, postmen or astronauts. Very often those dreams pass away and are nothing more than flights of fancy. Then we dream those formative year dreams where we see ourselves as the executive CEO of some major corporation, or we see ourselves as a professional athlete, or we see ourselves as a pastor or a church leader. whatever it is, there are those dreams that we had when we were younger, not simple flights of fancy, but real dreams where we would work out the details and imagine ourselves in situations that only existed in this dream life. These are the dreams that I am talking about. These are the dreams that directed our hobbies, that peaked out interest in subjects in school, that attracted us to join teams or clubs or organizations. These are the dreams that God placed in us at an early age. Very often we find that we have some gifting or skill associated with the dream we have. We can hit a baseball with ease and dream of breaking the home run record (steroid free of course). We can draw and create beautiful pieces of art and we imagine ourselves seeing our name on the sign outside of the City Hall announcing that we are the artist of the month. Big or small, it doesn't matter, these are the dreams and the gifts that are deep within us.

Now you know what I am talking about - now answer the question - are you doing right now what you dreamed you would be doing?

If you answered no, then you have become a graveyard of God's precious treasure. Ouch! that hurts! I don't mean to be rude, but I believe that God places gifts and talents inside of each one of us and along with those gifts and talents He places dreams. He give us those childhood visions of us serving sick people in hospital, or sitting around that board room meeting with a bunch of suits trying to make a decision as to how to avoid the next crisis. He gives us those dreams of putting out fires or rescuing stray cats from trees. he gives us those dreams of raising beautiful children or kicking a soccer ball even better than David Beckham can.

Have those dreams died inside of you? Has the treasure that the King was placing in you been buried under the mortgage, or the gas bill? Has the treasure been stolen from you from those who said, 'You want to do what? There is no money in that! Get a real job" Have you had your dream of teaching a small class of 4 year olds the truth of the simplest of bible stories because you "don't read so well"? As you look at your life and see the choices and sacrifices that have been made and how those dreams became another sacrifice, does something deep inside of you rise up when you think of what you wanted to become?

In 2 Timothy 1:6-7 Paul says these words to Timothy - "I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Timothy was just a young man at this point, and Paul is reminding him of the dreams that were in him, he is reminding him of the gifts that were in him - and he was exhorting Timothy to not be satisfied with the current intensity at which he was using those gifts - there was more. Timothy was instructed to fan into flame - a picture of a fire-tender taking out the bellows and blowing air into the very heart of the fire to inject combustible oxygen into the center of the flame and increasing the fuel, increasing the fire and increasing the heat.

I listened to a speaker on my way to work this morning that reminded me that I am unique - he wasn't just speaking to me, but I was the only one in the car so I reckon he had to be speaking to me. He reminded me that in 1 Peter 2:9 we are called a 'peculiar people' (King James Version). God created me peculiar. He created you peculiar too. Why do we try to conform to some middle ground where everything we do is normal. It is time to redefine normal. When we fan into flame the gifts that God has placed in us we will do just that - we will redefine normal.

I keep hearing people tell me that I am different, that I am unique, that no-one else thinks like me or acts like me. It used to bother me. it used to make me reflect on how I could change and become more 'normal'. It made me consider how I could become more acceptable and not be so different. Well, I believe that through the message this morning I need to fan into flame some gifts that God has put in me that have been on a low ebb for a while. It is time for me to not conform to 'normal' but to redefine normal. To define what is 'normal' for me - to be me, to be unique. You want to know something - don't do what I do - you are not me! God has created each of us to be unique, with unique gifts and talents but as we work together we compliment each other and our gifts blend until we corporately will build and edify the body of Christ. From now on it is unacceptable to consider someone weird just because they do things differently from me. Praise God for that difference and let's work together to see this city changed.

There is a passion and a desire inside of me to see the church in this city work together to see His kingdom come across this whole city. Only one church is big enough for that - THE Church of Jesus Christ collectively. There is a passion inside of me to see the college age generation so ignited with passion for the gospel that they become infectious everywhere they are and like the flu bug that has been going around i want to see our college age folks infect everyone they 'sneeze' on with the Good News about Jesus. I have a passion to see our Sunday morning services be the best opportunities they can be for us to come together to worship the King, to hear His word and to respond with open hearts and willing minds. I have a passion that I have laid down for a while, a passion that consumed my every thought a few years ago, a passion that defined my mission in life - and today I am resurrecting it from the graveyard. I have a passion that I will see God's kingdom come and see His will done right here in the City of Bowie, as it is in Heaven.

Let it come Lord, let it come. Today I am kicking tombstones over and monuments to dreams that have passed and were never thought to be possible. I am releasing my dreams back to God and asking Him to raise up again the things that He has called me to. Today I am shutting down the graveyard that I have created in my own life and having a personal resurrection service - right here in Panera Bread coffee shop. Let Your kingdom come, Lord! Let it come today, right now, right here!

What do you need to resurrect and fan into flame?

Today is your day. You choose.