Got Vision?

Proverbs 19:18
Without a vision, the people perish.

What is a vision? Simply put, a vision is “A mental picture of your future state.” The only problem is, we want to create that vision ourselves, much like a business leader creates a vision to define what his company will accomplish.

According to the Hebrew Lexicon, the word “vision” in Proverbs 19:18 refers to a divine vision or dream, especially a prophetic vision from God respecting future events. It’s the same word used in I Chronicles 17. In verses 3-14, Nathan the prophet tells David the prophecy of what God is going to do for him and his descendants. The next verse says, “According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.”

So, the “missing ingredient” that can transform us into powerful servants of God is a prophetic vision of what God wants to accomplish through us.

Why do you need a vision? Even if the Lord doesn’t return for another hundred years, OUR time is running out. We need to get BUSY saving souls before it’s too late. The most effective way to do that is to love people the way Jesus did, by showing them we care about their problems as well as their souls.

When we stand face to face with Jesus, we will be rewarded and punished based on what we did for Him in this life. Remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-29? It says the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who gives five talents to one servant, two to another servant, and one to a third servant. When he returns, he discovers that the first two servants had used his money to gain more money and he rewards them . But when the third servant admits he buried his master’s money in the ground, what he has is taken away and he is cast into “outer darkness” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Not clear enough? In the very next verses (Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus tells what happens at the judgment seat:

Those who served God by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, taking in the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting those who were sick or in prison REALLY DID IT FOR JESUS, and they will inherit the kingdom prepared for them.

Those who did NOT help the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and prisoners will be sent away into everlasting punishment, because they DIDN’T DO IT FOR JESUS.

That makes it pretty clear. The single most important thing we can do is to find and fulfill God’s vision for our lives.

Cathleen