The Responsibility Dream
April 28, 2024 11:21 AM
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com
20240428
I had a dream last night. I was sitting in the basement of my previous house in the city that I had lived in. There was a young college age man that was sitting on a couch next to me. I had agreed to allow him to stay at my place, and gave him room and board.
When he reached over and casually grabbed one of my chocolate bars without asking my permission, I had had enough. I reminded him that he was getting free room and board here, and he was taking it for granted. It looked like he had no thoughts of either finding his own place, or paying his fair share. I had the sense that he may of been a believer, but I was not sure. He was a quiet type. I told him he had til the end of the week, a Friday, to decide what he was going to do, whether he would start paying his own way, or find his own place. I told him we had literally provided him with thousands of dollars of room and board, and it was time he pulled his own weight. He responded by saying nothing, looking somewhat uncomfortable and I spoke to him. Then I woke up.
After meditating and asking the Lord about this, this is what came to me: Many of us in the church are like that college boy. We are quiet and generally well behaved. Yet we take our hosts’ provisions for granted. My part in the dream is completely symbolic and it is only to represent the host, or master of the house, nothing more.
I had invited the young man in when he was in need, but fully expected that at some time he was going to take responsibility for himself and start paying his own way. Yet he chose to be completely oblivious of his duties and responsibilities, and ended up angering the master of the house by casually taking something (the chocolate bar) of the master’s goods without first asking permission to do so.
It was the assumption that he had an automatic right to whatever he desired that angered the master.
This dream is not symbolic of our salvation experience, but of our call to true discipleship. We are told that Jesus paid the price for our sin, and that all that the Father has is now ours, and all that is true. Yet the other side of this covenant is that in exchange for receiving this eternal life, we are supposed to give up our own life fully to him. Yet how many of us have no problem walking in presumption, grabbing whatever we can from our Father, without a thought as to what he may be requiring of us?
We think so long as we are somewhat well behaved, that we can continue to assume and presume on God’s graciousness and goodness. However God wants us to take thought foe the responsibilities that we now have as residents in the master’s house.
There are other points to ponder, such as I was not sure if he was really a believer or not. Our response to the Lord’s goodness in our lives is an important indicator of the genuineness of our faith. Also the young man was challenged to pay his fair share or to find some other place. Perhaps that is telling us that we must fully fully embrace whatever the master commands of us, or we will be sent away out of his house and we will be back on our own once again. The fact that there was a specific time given for him to make up his mind indicates that God’s grace will not be extended to us forever. There may come a time when it is too late to start fully obeying the Lord, and we will find ourselves thrust outside his house. The thousands of dollars represented the infinite price God paid to redeem us by the shed blood of the Lamb on the cross. It is a debt that we could never repay, but that does not mean that we have no requirements placed upon us once we decide to follow him. The fact that the man had nothing to say, yet was somewhat uncomfortable, represents the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Many of us hear it, and we can feel it, but inaction causes the conviction to be dampened down, so that it does not bother us as deeply as it should.
Let us seek the Lord with all out hearts, in sincerity and truth, and check to see if we are truly walking in the responsibilities that out master has personally placed upon our lives.
Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/
