Vision is vital – Saturday, 6 January

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”
Proverbs 29:18 KJV
 
Life is a journey for everyone. The problem is that some people don’t know where they’re going! It’s important to know where you’re going and to have a vision. We all want to accomplish something and live purposeful lives, but if you aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time. When we don’t know where we’re going it leads to apathy, passivity and frustration. No one is on this earth to simply take up space and pass time. We were all created with a God-given purpose, and if we want to discover that purpose we need to seek Him.

Vision isn’t only talking about goals and dreams; it is also talking about a revelation of God’s ways.  When people do not know God’s ways – the way He does things, the way His kingdom functions – they can’t follow God’s ways and it causes them to perish. What is this “way” that can keep people from perishing?

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16 KJV
 
Jesus came to earth so that we would not perish, and that we would have eternal life (which is relationship with God). God’s way of keeping us from perishing – His way of saving us – is relationship with Him. Where there is no vision of God’s way (relationship with God), people perish. Religion (man’s effort to be right with God) has tried its best to get people busy with doing things to get accepted by God. It has promoted the way of doing right to be right and has ultimately blurred people’s vision, preventing them from seeing The Way – God’s way.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 ESV
 
Jesus is The Way to relationship with God. Good works and holiness are good, but they cannot get you acceptance and relationship with God – only faith in what Jesus has done for you can do that (Ephesians 8:9; Romans 10:9). Christianity isn’t about doing good or living holy (even though it leads to doing good things and living a holy life). Christianity is about right believing: believing the Gospel. When you become a Christian you are made right (2 Corinthians 5:21) and that eventually leads to holy living, but holiness isn’t the root of salvation: it’s a fruit of salvation. 

Right believing leads to the right fruit. Right doing without the right root will lead to frustration, tiredness and burnout. 

God has called you to do something that is both specific and significant, but first and foremost He has called you to friendship with Him. Having this vision for your life – this knowledge of God’s way, which is relationship with Him – is the first step to discovering your mission and walking in your destiny! Knowing your mission and purpose in life starts with knowing God and enjoying relationship with Him. Out of that place of friendship He will lead you in the direction you should go, and you will not perish.

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV
 
This is talking about relationship with God – when you are rooted in relationship with Him, you will be able to hear His voice as He directs your paths. You will know the direction you should go in life, and you will have a vision to follow.