God’s Vision, Your Unique RoleSample

Before moving on to what makes a worthy and focused vision of life, think about the following tempting visions, some of which might be more subtly harmful than the faulty visions we examined yesterday.

Kinds of Recreation: Enjoy your recreation, vacation, and toys because God “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment” (1 Timothy 6:17), but don’t live for them by justifying your fondness for luxury with that verse. You could wrongly turn them into a vision of life.

Significance of Ministry: People often make positive judgments from the apparent numerical and geographical extent of a ministry. The assumption is that “small” ministries in remote places are not successful. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Vigor of Health: Good health is wonderful but not necessary for a full life. Vigorous health is preferable to illness. It is a blessing but not necessary for a valid future orientation.

Clarity of Intellect: Pursue continuing education, update your profession, and develop your credentials, but do not make those the vision of life. They may, however, enable you to accomplish the vision of God for your life.

Quality of Friends: You cannot sustain quality friendships unless both parties are resources to each other’s life visions. Life must be enriched by friendships, but making friendships is not the vision of life.

As enticing as these potential life visions can be, we must work hard to acquire the distinctly Christian faculty of future vision, which comes only from a right relationship with the Lord and His Word.

The Bible clearly calls us to measure our days—that includes our past, present, and especially the future—and calibrate life accordingly. Teach us, Lord, to number our days in gaining a heart of wisdom.