Avoiding a shipwreck

Last night I had another unpleasant dream. In it I reacted badly to something someone said to me. The emotions were still there when I woke, so I did the usual “it was only a dream” stuff. They didn’t go away. Even though the dream seemed to have no connection to reality, I had to question its point. (Someone once told me that if you remember your dreams, they have some significance about what is going on in your life.)

After talking to myself some more, and calming down, I remembered that God once told me that it is better to have my weaknesses revealed to me in dreams than in real life. Yikes!

I know what the Bible says about the way I acted in my dream. I’ve some bad attitudes. Today’s passage is also helpful. It reminds me that the Christian life is a fight. My faith and my life are constantly challenged and I need to protect how I think and what I do.

“Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith” (1 Timothy 1:18, NKJV).

To avoid being “shipwrecked” I’m to hang in there—trusting God, remembering He is sovereign (and controls even dreams), and that He uses all things (even dreams) for good in my life—the “good” being that I become more like Jesus Christ.

Tied closely to faith is a good conscience. The way to have it is not by being squeaky clean (no one can do that), but by keeping short accounts with the Lord. One of my favorite Bible verses, and favorite realities, is “If we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

When I agree with God about the sinful stuff that I do (even in my dreams), He not only forgives me and wipes it from my record, but those sinful attitudes are given a bath—my conscience is cleared. This is amazing grace.

It is also amazing grace that God promises not to put His people to shame. By grace He lets me have a dream to find out that I have some bad attitudes. And even though I didn’t actually ‘do’ anything, I can confess those attitudes and, with God’s help, not act like a total idiot when I’m awake.