Dreams

  So I typically have pretty strange dreams, often involving pirates for some reason.  (Perhaps it's all the great pirate jokes I know)

  Last night, though, I had one that has stayed with me.

  I had a dream that I had been wrongly convicted of a crime.  The sentence for my crime?  Crucifixion.  I have the distinct memory of three hardened nails sitting on a conference table.  I also remember the fact that the person who had the capability to overturn my conviction knew that I was innocent, knew that I was expecting a child and yet refused to set me free.  He merely referred my case to his overseer, a merciless man who enjoyed the thought of my impending death.  There was no mercy for me.

  Many others came to plead my defense, and I, too, was very upset at this conviction.  I tried to guilt the man into doing what he knew was right, and I could sense the guilt within him.  I complained, again and again, about how unfair it all was.  Couldn't he see that he was allowing my life to be wasted?

  When I woke up this morning, I was busy trying to process all of this.  On the drive in to our men's breakfast, I was filled with thoughts of my dream, and of my King, Jesus Christ.

  It was exactly what happened to Him--Christ was unfairly crucified, and His conviction could have easily been overturned.  But there was no mercy for him.

  The difference is that He went to the cross without complaining to Pilate about how unfair it all was.  He went to the cross precisely because it was unfair--humanity would receive more than we deserved through His death.  He came that we may have life, even if it meant His death.  He came because the fair outcome of our sins was death, but He chose life.  He prayed to His Father for the cup to pass, but He went along with God's will out of obedience.  It was all so unfair, and yet He died, anyway.

  All day, I've been wrestling with this dream.  Do I truly recognize the enormity of what Christ did, of accepting the outcome of sin and death upon His shoulders, in His crucifixion?  Do I live with a grateful heart?  Do I live with purpose for Him, or have I heard the story so many times that I no longer allow it to affect me? Have I grown callous to the thought of another man, a much better man, dying in my stead?

  Is this dream a wake-up call, a call to a renewal of my baptismal vows, a chance to live in gratitude for the grace that I have received, a call to recognize how unfair life is--that I have the chance for abundant life in Christ despite my sins?

  I am praying that I will be thankful that life is unfair, and that I will be more aware of the sacrifice of Christ, and live with a purpose, for glorifying Him.