He must increase
I’ve got to take a minute to share this story. I have not been obedient to what God shared with me, and I don’t believe things will be in order until I do.
On September 13, 2020 I made the FB post in the attached picture, and that very night I had a dream that shook me. The night before, I found myself apologizing to a lady that I went to church with.
Before I get into the dream and why I apologized to the woman, I should provide a little backstory. Months before that date, I’d been getting frustrated with division in the church. It seemed like most of the people I knew were more for a political party than Christ follower. It drove me to the point where I no longer wanted to be involved with small groups or around church people as a whole. It came to the point where I just preferred to watch the services online.
Before this time, I thought I’d made relationships with what I considered a group of Christian men. I already had men in my life that were strong believers in Christ. I thought this would be the icing on the cake. During this time, I was a year from being divorced and then remarried. I opened up and was very vulnerable. I had grown men hugging and crying with me. They were willing to talk with me about my divorce, but somehow couldn’t manage to have a decent conversation about issues with race. That’s the quick and abbreviated version because I know my stories can get long.
Now, back to the lady at church and the dream. She made a post that I didn’t agree with based on personal things in my life. To be honest, I got in my feelings and commented. There was a huge problem though. We didn’t really have a true relationship. I’d known of her for several years because our kids were in the same classes in Elementary school. I’d seen her on numerous field trips. She knew my wife because my wife was a teacher at the elementary school. So, I guess you could say she really had a relationship more with my wife and daughter. After I made my comment, I realized we didn’t have a close enough relationship for me to make random comments. That really made it difficult for an honest discussion to progress. With me being a non confrontational person, I really wanted to go back and erase my comment. However, when I looked and noticed that she’d removed the post, i felt the need to go back and apologize. We had a couple messages back and forth and I thought everything was good. I thought that was the end.
That night, I had the worst dream. I work for a utility company, and I dreamed that I was in a neighborhood designing a cable route. I came up to a corner lot, and there were a group of ladies and kids standing around talking. I can’t remember the exact conversation now, but I remember giving directions to where I was going. Here’s the twist though; I had my gun in my right hand and for some reason used it to point to the location. I noticed the look of terror on their faces. I specifically remember using my left had to hold out my badge to prove who I was.
I was convicted even more after I woke up. I became aware that we often present our badges of who we should be representing. For me, that may have been checking in to church on a Sunday morning on Facebook. It could have been throwing a Bible quote up occasionally or the all famous church picture. But just like with that badge, I was supposed to be representing my employer I’m supposed to be daily dying to self and representing Christ. That dream reminded me that just like the people that I became so was angry with in church, I would also use my gun (harsh words) in proving a point. In the dream, the gun was in my right hand. I’m right handed, so to me, that represented strength and more control than the badge in the left. The people never saw nor cared who I was supposed to be representing.
I realized that I didn't know that lady’s personal walk with Christ. I could have been a stumbling block to her. I’ve recently read through Romans and now in 1 Corinthians in the Bible. I’ve overwhelmed in seeing the theme of division in the church. There were weak and strong believers, and so much judgementalism. Quite frankly, I see more and more people around me daily judge one group on the splinter in their eye and never see the beam in their own eyes. I remember the pleading in my dream for people to not be afraid because of who I wanted to represent.
All of that said, God is still doing a lot of work in me. One of my life verses is so simple, but seems to be the hardest thing in society today. I believe if every person that professes to be a believer in Christ honed in on this verse, we’d begin to see a difference in the world. We constantly blame media or social media for the division, but Paul was warning about division during his times. The scripture is John 3:35 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” To me, it doesn’t mean Christians are to be cowards or not stand up for biblical truths. But, it does mean we should weigh our personal beliefs against Christ.
I recently had a business spotlight with a radio station and I told the owner that every design I created had a special meaning. This image from my dream was supposed to be a new design. I still may do it, but even if I don’t, I realized I must share my dream. Originally, I thought God was just speaking to me, but events keep telling me that I am supposed to share it.
