If the Calling of Christ Feels Too Big, Then You're Dreaming Too Small

Last night at my house dinner we discussed what each of our eight year old selves dreamed of being when we grew up. The answers ranged from professional soccer player, to princess, to killer whale deep sea diver. Some of my friends are currently living their dreams, some are finding ways to live out new dreams.

I was hesitant to share my answer with the group. See when I was eight, I wanted to be a teacher.  But I didn't want to become a teacher because I wanted to change the world one compound-complex sentence at a time. I wanted to become a teacher because it's what most of the adult women in my life did. Teaching wasn't my dream, but a way for me to limit my dream of becoming a writer.

After dinner my housemates and I attended our last UCO prayer meeting of the year. Interestingly enough, the night's talk was about vision. Specifically how high, deep, and Christ-centered are our visions for our lives? See as Christians, our vision for our life needs to be Christ's vision. Specifically, that we "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28: 19).

What a high vision! But a high vision has not roots without depth. If our vision is to make disciples of all the nations, that vision can and should change the world. In fact, our mission director argued that if my vision for my life does not include changing the world, then it's too small. I therefore need to live according to the belief that God will do big things with my life.

But how do I incorporate a vision for discipleship and evangelism into my daily life? In order for me to be faithful to Christ's big vision for my life, I need to be faithful to the smaller things. For example, do my finances reflect my faithfulness to myself or to my church and community? Is my job helping me fulfill my call to discipleship, or am I just passing time until payday? Am I dressing modestly out of love for my brothers, or out of a need for others to recognize my holiness?

If the calling of Christ feels too big, then you are dreaming too small. Dreams should scare you, and at times feel out too big and out of reach. It's only when we make it our life mission to abide in Christ that we can fulfill our mission to raise a family of disciples capable of leading the next generation to Christ.