Vision

Happy New Year!

I spent the last week taking a class at Liberty University.  I was not excited about having to spend a week of my Christmas break taking a class.  However, it was one of the best classes that I have ever taken.  As with a lot of things that happen in our lives, my opinion of the situation looking back on it is quite different than my opinion was prior to it happening.

I was thinking about how I need to have a clear vision of what I want for my future.

The Bible says that without a vision the people will perish.  (Proverbs 29:18)  We need goals and hopes for our future.  These goals and hopes should have something to do with our Christian life.  Do yours include growing in your faith?  Or, are you happy to just keep floating along  - having a kind of whatever will be, will be attitude. 

It’s good to have goals.  “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 3:14)  We need goals for our walk with Christ, personal goals, dreams that we believe in, a vision of how we can serve God.  Then we need to be determined to see these goals into reality.

If we don’t have a vision, then we don’t have a focus.  We will perish from the lack of focus and drive.  We will perish for a lack of vision.  We won’t achieve the things we want in life.  We need to have hopes and goals, to aim for a vision to believe in, to have something that grips us so much that we cannot and will not let it go.  We need to have that vision for God, to be purpose driven in God, to hold fast to that vision and make sure it comes to pass.

I have had this hymn stuck in my mind today…

Be Thou My Vision – Lyrics

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul's Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Look at all the titles that the author of this hymn gives to Christ - Vision, Wisdom, Word, Great Father, Power, Inheritance, High King of heaven, Treasure, bright heaven's Sun, Ruler of all.

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