May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Galatians 6:14)
Every vision, every creative idea, has to be brought into focus through the cross. Only then do we see it in perspective. If we are not willing to subject everything to Calvary, we will never be allowed to see it through.
There is no resurrection without crucifixion, no life without death.
This means saying to the Lord, ‘Thank you for helping me to dream this dream. It is exciting and full of potential. But I am willing to give it to you so that you can decide what is done with it.
‘If you want to kill it, that’s all right with me. And if you want to raise it to life again, that’s all right too. I bring it under the cross.’
Whenever a vision becomes so important to us that we can’t let it go for any reason, we are in a dangerous position.
If we can’t keep our dreaming focused through the cross, we will see a distorted picture–and the result will be less than God intended.
This sounds hard and even unfair perhaps, but it is how the kingdom of God works.
To read more on this topic see Living in the Image of God, Barry Chant (Miranda: Tabor, 2012 available in eBook and Paperback) from which this edited extract is taken.