Vision

I love the old hymn, "Be Thou My Vision." I love it especially now because I have recently started a new job as a pastor of a church and an assistant pastor for another. When I first started, vision was heavy on my mind and heart and I constantly prayed that God would give me clarity of vision for what he wanted to do with the people he had called me to love and serve.

I think our culture views vision through the rhetoric of the business world. For a company, vision means that the "how" component of living out its mission (the "why") is clear and can be pursued by the doers within that organization. But vision within a church is somewhat different. We aren't doers just for the sake of doing. There is a purpose that is different for the body of Christ than that of the world. I once had a conversation with a very successful pastor at a thriving young church who enlightened me on the difference between the vision of the church and that of the world. He turned in his Bible to Colossians 1:28 and read, "He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ." He then explained how world organizations, through their visions, seek to receive some form of compensation for the products they deliver. The church labors to offer up something to God, and its vision is all about people. Its vision is not about quantities and returns, but quality and totality. 

My vision has changed entirely from a strategy to grow numbers to a strategy of building up persons to offer to God. And that is exactly what Jesus did. His vision for the kingdom of God was to empower and build up people to live beyond their own comprehension. Take his Sermon on the Mount as an example. Jesus' first words to a huge gathering of lowly, rural people on a hillside were essentially: "You are Blessed. I Bless you." Then he followed that up with,... "And you are the seasoning that makes life amazing... the light that brightens up this dark world. Go and shine!" Before he called people to a higher path, he poured life into them and gave them a vision for what they truly were. There are so many examples of God doing this in the Bible. He called Gideon a "mighty man of valor" when he was cowering in fear and doubt. He called Peter a "Rock" even when he knew Peter would deny him. Jesus gives a vision for what we are becoming and then leads us on that path. 

My vision is not some strategy for growth, not some master plan, its daily building up people. It's taking each day as an opportunity to tell someone who they are becoming, not who they are, and giving them the tools to succeed. My vision is for His children to see him. 

Ian Lynn, the songwriter for "Be Thou My Vision" wrote this line that inspires me, "Thou [Jesus] my best Thought, by day or by night." The best objective and thought is placing Jesus at the center stage of my mind. Vision is simply living in and with the presence of Jesus. Looking at Him and living from that place where He is.