Dead to the world

Have you ever had a dream that seemed so real you weren't sure if you were awake or dreaming?

I have.

I recently experienced a dream that really affected me and I've been thinking about the meaning of the thing for days.

I woke up at about 1am and couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned until I finally drifted off to sleep again. While I was dreaming I had complete lucid control of my actions but the environment and other characters in my dream were completly out of my control. Then I woke up,... or so I thought and I dreamt almost the same dream a second time. After this dream I was sick for days.

I won't bore you with the details of the dream but one of the messages that I took from it was that although I hate the world I seem to be having an affair with the world at that same time.

If you've seen the Matrix one of the characters Cypher is so sick of the cold, hard reality of the real world that he wants to have his memory erased and be put back into the Matrix (a computer generated virtual reality that appears real to most people). He wants to experience all the pleasures of the world again. In his words... "I know it's not real... but ignorance is bliss"

The reality is once we've been saved we can't go back. Life can never be the same again. I can't roll with the same folks I did once. When they zig left I have to zag right. When they sit down I might be left standing all alone.

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. - James 4:4

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. - 1 John 2:15

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2