Dreaming and planning in order to do a task well is a good thing; daydreaming when we should already be doing is wrong. In John 14, Jesus gives a wonderful message to his disciples: “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these” (v. 12). We might expect that, after delivering this message, Jesus would tell the disciples to go off and meditate on what he’d said. Instead, he tells them to spring into action: “Come now; let us leave.”
There are moments when dreaming is appropriate. If we are patiently waiting before God and he says, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place,” this is an invitation to sit with him in contemplation (Mark 6:31). It’s God’s way of getting us alone so he can tell us what he wants us to do. But after he’s told us, we have to watch out if, instead of taking action, we’re inclined to keep dreaming about what he’s said. God’s blessing is never on idleness. When we get his wake-up call, we must go out and obey, leaving our dreams safely where we found them—with God, the source of all our dreams and joys and delights.
Taking action is the way we show Jesus we love him. When you’re in love, do you spend all your time sitting around, daydreaming about your beloved? No! You get up and do something about it. That is what Jesus Christ expects.
