Unwinding God’s Vision – Week One

This time of year puts me in a contemplative mood. As I look back at the past year, trying to see the themes of how God worked, I am both amazed by opportunities that I have had and disappointed by certain things that did not come to pass. Then I look forward to the new year, wondering what will happen, hoping for new things, and working to solidify plans and goals.

For years, thinking of the future overwhelmed me. Looking back, I realized that I set out to achieve many things, but I lacked vision. I was living my life similar to a person who hops in a car without a GPS, a map, or even a destination in mind. Then drives around, hoping for a good outcome, but lacking strategy. Along the way, they may discover some fantastic places, but the journey is aimless, without an end in sight.

When we don’t know what we are looking for, it is hard to find it. When we don’t know what we are aiming at, it’s hard to hit the target.

I have always been great at executing, filling my life with a lot of activity. But activity is not the same as purpose. Often the busyness of life is an indicator we lack purpose. Caught in a flurry of action, I discovered I wasn’t actually going anywhere. Instead of living with intentionality, I was going in circles. I wanted adventure and blessing, I hoped for God to do big things, but I wasn’t doing my part.

As a child of God, we know that God has designed us for a purpose. And that doesn’t only mean a purpose for all humanity, it means a purpose for our individual lives. But often, we are in the driver’s seat attempting to find that purpose without consulting God. We are so consumed with going that we miss the most important lessons. We can be really skilled at creating agendas that we think are helpful to God’s kingdom. We can fill our lives with good things only to neglect the most important things. We can so busy working for God that we miss God altogether.

Are you in a place that you want the blessings of God, but you are too busy to listen to what God wants?

Living the life God designed for us always has to begin with Him. I love how Henry and Richard Blackaby put it in their book Experiencing God, “Once I know what God is doing, then I see what I should do. My focus needs to be outward on God and His purpose, not inward on my life.”

Over the past year, I have spent a lot of time in the book of James. God has been teaching me to slow down, listen more, and do less. Instead of lots of activity, I am learning to do the things that matter most. One verse God has used to shape me puts it this way, “One who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:25 NASB) God’s blessings are connected to following God’s direction.

For the next few weeks, we are going to be talking about vision. Vision is when we live out of the purpose we are designed for. Vision is when our life is about something much greater than ourselves. Vision is when we understand that right where we are today has significance and opportunity.

Uncovering vision has been a slow but steady process for me, similar to unwinding a ball of yarn. If you go too fast, you will get all tangled up, if you try to skip straight to the middle you get stuck, but if you work steadily, unwinding layer by layer, eventually you will get to the center.

God’s vision is not always as straightforward as we would like. More often then not, it takes twists and turns we never anticipated. But when we spend time in His presence and studying His Word, we learn to see His hand in our day to day. We uncover new thoughts and ideas. We begin to see that God is shaping us for the exact tasks He has assigned us.

As we begin a new year, I believe God is offering an invitation to each of us. To get to know Him better. To talk about what is on our hearts and minds. To ask our questions. To listen. To learn. To plan and strategize together. To take steps of faith. To grow in our understanding of who He is and who He designed us to be.