What Would You Do With ONE WEEK Left?

They made the announcement at churches and at schools.  They wanted everyone to hear.  The entire community had one week to make a significant changes in their lives:  in the way they cleaned their houses; in the way they looked; in their eating habits; and in their worship habits.  In one week, the judges would come and interview every person and if they hadn’t made a significant change, they would be killed immediately, no questions asked. Things were taken away for that week.  There were no food stores.  There was no electricity, no internet, no travel.  People were living on basic survival and what they had in their homes for one week.  Some tried to help others by writing on their doors “we have meat” or “Jeep to share”, hoping that others would come to them seeking help if they needed it.  One family did so, only to look across the street and see someone killing an old lady to steal her necessities.  Quickly the father said, “Erase that off the door, they’ll see!”  The mother said, “The paint is too thick!  Take the door off instead!”  As the teenage daughter sanded the paint off of the door, she said, “It’s not fair that my brother is away at college and doesn’t have to endure this hardship.” 

Many sought new beauty regiments, but only the well off could afford to do so.  Some wanted to change the color of their hair or their facial features, hoping that would keep them alive on judgment day.  One family tried to become more organized, finding a place in their home for everything neatly, until their 1 yr old son came through the room and overturned the organization bins , spilling everything across the floors.  Would the family be doomed?  They thought so, and immediately scrambled to find something else to better them.  The judges were coming!

Many flocked to churches to pray and worship at the last minute.  The sound of a loud voice came over the P.A., “They are coming!” and everyone started to worship harder and in ways they never have before.  “Perhaps my worship will make them spare me,” they thought.  “If I raise my hands or go to the altar they will see the outward change in me and I won’t be killed.”  The lady next to me ran to the altar she never had been to before and fell on her knees, waving her hands wildly, and swaying to the music that was playing, as the officials came down the aisles to evaluate the people and make their judgments. 

I don’t know how I knew.  I don’t know if someone revealed the secret to me in person or if I just knew.   A vision of a man came to me and said “It’s all a hoax; no one will be killed today. We just wanted to see if people would better themselves.  We just wanted to see if people would unify or fall apart.  We just wanted to see what people thought was “’better.’”  And that man was THE Judge.  So I ran to the altar myself.  I was right next to the lady waving her hands wildly, except I was actually worshiping something with my whole heart!  I was worshiping the Judge, the Lord!  I didn’t care what I looked like.  I wanted to worship with everything I had in me!  And then the Judge, in the form of a man, came to me, held my face, and knowingly looked into my eyes.  He said, “You knew it was a hoax, why did you come down here?  Why are you worshiping so wildly like these other people?”  I said, “Because I have to worship you.   I want to worship you!”  He smiled, I felt his approval, and then I woke up.

What does this dream mean?  Two nights this week, I've dreamt this same dream and the Lord asked me to write it down and to share it.  I think it's not really a coincidence that I've been writing a sermon called "A Church Jesus Wants to Belong To."

I believe the Lord’s message to me, to everyone, through this dream was His grace.  I believe the people in the dream were all Christians which is why they were all going to be saved in the end.  I believe that the Lord was showing me different people’s reactions to the Christian faith.  Some become helpful, inviting, wanting to let others in until they feel a threat and close their doors when they see the world creeping in.  Some want to look good on the outside, like those seeking beauty treatments or those trying to worship better before the judges came.  Some try in their own strength to organize their lives around the Lord.  God has his place, but not in all areas of their life.  Maybe he is in their church activities and their small groups, but he’s not with them at school or at work where they may or may not act like a Christ-follower.  Or maybe their organization leaves very little opportunity for the Lord to REALLY change them.  And then there are those that lock themselves in the church and just play church.  When a hardship comes they run to an altar, sometimes seeking to look good in the sight of others instead of the life-changing power that would be theirs.  If they believed in His grace; his undeserved, unmerited, complete grace; they would be saved!

God is ready and willing to meet everyone right where they are and to give the amazing grace that has already been bought and paid for on Calvary.  We don’t have to go to extraordinary lengths to better ourselves.  If we worship the Lord and seek HIS face, we will want to do the good works and actions that show others of our great love for Christ.  It’s when we worship him in our hearts, in full sacrifice, not caring about anything else, that He is pleased.  Everyone in that dream was trying SO hard, when all they really had to do was worship from their heart; it saved them and it will save us.  God wants to make the grace for sin exchange in our lives, but will we let him?   This doesn’t just mean that we believe in Him and “get saved”.  This means that we believe that everything that Christ was, we ARE!  Not we “can be”, but we ARE!  We need to believe that the power Christ has to raise from the dead, to heal, to know deep needs, to draw people in, even to offend the world, resides inside of us RIGHT NOW!  We don’t have to wildly beg at an altar for it; it’s ours NOW!  When will the church believe it?  When will you?