The Better Dream for Your Life
By Rick Warren
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
Before you were born, God thought up his dream for your life. But so often in life we focus on our own dreams instead of what God has planned for us. We think we know better than God what will make us happy and fulfilled.
Ephesians 2:10 says, "God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do" (GW).
You need God's dream for your life more than your own dream for your life. Why? Because God knows you much better than you know yourself. And he knows how his dream for your life fits into the bigger plan he has for the world. You cannot know everything, and you can’t have the right perspective all the time—but God does.
God’s dream for your life consists of the goals and plans that he created you to fulfill—and his dream is far more important than your own dreams.
God hasn't promised to bless everything that you think up. Left to your own devices, you probably wouldn’t choose a life “filled with good works” as your dream. It would probably be closer to my childhood dream: becoming a rock star! Thankfully, that was not God's dream for me, and he had something much better in store.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).
You might have had some dreams that weren’t the right choice or that you messed up. Maybe you thought you were going to marry a certain person. But now, looking back, you realize that would have been a disaster. Maybe you had to let go of a dream, and you thought it was going to be the end of you. But now, looking back, you see that it was really just the beginning of God’s better dream for you.
When you have to choose between your dream and the dream you know God has given you, always choose God’s plan. God’s dream for your life is always good. It will never harm you. It’s going to give you great hope and a wonderful future!
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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