Dream On or Live On?
From the echo of longing to the song of indwelling life.
Series: Songs of the Soul
Photo Credit: Unsplash
Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 2:11; John 15:5; Colossians 1:27; Romans 8:20–21
Every generation writes its songs of longing. In the early seventies, Dream On echoed through the air like a lament for meaning itself. Beneath its soaring vocals and driving rhythm lies a confession humanity cannot silence: time is moving, and we do not know why.
“Every time that I look in the mirror,” Steven Tyler sings, and we all recognize the face that changes, the past that fades, the life that still feels incomplete. Three thousand years earlier, Solomon voiced the same ache: “All was vanity and a chasing after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11) Both artists, separated by millennia, gave language to the same emptiness—the futility of chasing life apart from its Giver.
I remember listening to this song long before knowing Christ. I didn’t hear the words as much as I felt them—the phrasing, the breath control, the pulse of the drums. I admired the craft, the reach, the risk. It stirred something deeper, though I couldn’t have named it then—a hunger for life itself. I see now that it was the echo of the Creator calling His creation home.
The lyric “You got to lose to know how to win” sounds almost biblical, and in a way it brushes against truth—but stops short. Human wisdom imagines that by falling and fighting harder we can redeem ourselves. The gospel tells a different story. Jesus did not fail His way to victory; He surrendered Himself completely, and His triumph became ours. What we strain to earn through self-effort is received through union with Him.
Self-expression is a beautiful gift, but it was never meant to be the source of identity. Our hearts were fashioned for indwelling, not performance. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) The life we once tried to project through art, ambition, or achievement finds its true melody in Him. The chase ends where His life begins.
I still enjoy the sound—the bend of a guitar string, the swell of a crowd—but now I hear it differently. What once reminded me of rebellion now whispers of redemption. The same creativity that once revolved around self can become an instrument of grace.
Let your song—whatever your craft or calling—be His life expressed through you. Trade grasping for abiding. Trade restless pursuit for quiet communion. The world tells us to dream on. Jesus invites us to live on—in Him.
Prayer of Confidence
Lord, I release the dreams I built on my own and rest in Your life within me.
You are the melody that steadies my heart, the rhythm that turns striving into peace.
May every note of my life echo the glory of Your indwelling presence.