12-1-18

Is this the state of the Evangelical Church ?

In this dream, I was in a big classroom where all of “us” had been preparing for a big test. We were all give the answers and the questions. We had many practice tests. Yet people still failed the test. I saw girls sitting down crying at their tables who had lots of correctional writing on their tests. Some guys were quiet and motionless with their heads down, not showing their failure. Yet, they did not expect to fail. They were devastated.

I had my test in my hand holding it up to my chest, but didn’t bother looking at it. I felt confident that I had passed. I was more concerned about what was happening around me in the room.The ones that did really well, didn’t show surprise or talk about their score. They looked devoted, focused, humble, and confident-ready to move on.

I walked towards the back passing through so many people that were still in line to receive their scores. I wanted to go in the back to reflect. On my pre-tests, I got about 10-12 wrong out of 80 questions consistently. I finally decided to look at my test out of curiosity. I missed 10 questions. I passed with no surprise, but could have done better. I was confused and surprised to see about 10% of the people failed even though they had every opportunity to pass…

Interpretation:

I think the class represents the church. The study material was the Word of God and His commands. The test determined who would enter the kingdom, or maybe, who would advance to the next stage in their Christian walk. The ones who failed, either didn’t progress to the next stage, or worse-didn’t make it to the Kingdom of Heaven. Strangely, these people were surprised and thought they had “studied” sufficiently. Solid churches that preach the word of God will still have those that attend regularly who will not make it into heaven. It will be a stark and sad reality.

My score reflected on my desire to fulfill God’s purposes in my life. I seemed to make several of the same mistakes over again. Progressing with excellence means to me to deny oneself, letting go of the past, and giving it your All. The question I had to myself: If I can score A’s on regular tests, then why am I allowing myself to score B’s with God?

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! …so I run with purpose in every step.”

Hebrews 12:1

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us”…

2 Timothy 4:7-9

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Mathew 22:13

…”in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”