What’s Your Vision for the Near and Distant Future?

How’s your vision? I’m not referring to the kind that’s evaluated by an optometrist or an eye chart. What I’m referring to is the vision you have for the coming days – in your marriage, your family, your career, your finances, even for your spiritual life. 

Someone might respond, “No one knows what the future holds.” We often hear that and it’s true. But it’s also true that, as an adage reminds us, if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.

 

“Where are we going?” “How are we going to get there?” “How will we know when we’ve arrived?” For many companies, these questions are answered by their mission statement. This statement expresses why the company exists, what it does, whom it serves, and how it functions.

 

But some companies take it one step further, adopting a vision statement. It describes the future that the organization and its employees envision and hope to achieve. I’ve had the privilege of writing books about three companies like this. Their leaders are very much aware of the day-to-day, but also have an eye toward the future in terms of growth and impact on the people they serve.

 

Vision is important not only for businesses, but also for individuals and families. I know of some people who have formulated a personal mission or purpose statement. This helps in answering questions like, “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” and “What am I to do?” But creating a vision does even more. It helps in defining things like who you would like to become, what you would like to see happening in your family’s future, and the kind of legacy you would like to leave.

 

King Solomon, considered by some the wisest man who ever lived, made this observation: “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but happy is one who keeps the law” (Proverbs 29:18). Another translation is even more sobering: “Where there is no vision, the people perish….” Yet another version says, “…the people run wild.”

 

The “vision” Solomon referred to is prophetic vision, a revelation of God and what He expects of His people. Surveying the landscape of contemporary society, it seems clear that in many respects there’s no vision. As a consequence, people are perishing, both literally and figuratively. Watching the evening news, it’s also evident that some are “running wild.”

 

We might say the entire Word of God is about the Lord’s vision for His creation. In Genesis 1:27, we read, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He creation him; male and female He created them.” Then in the next verse it says, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number….’” Another translation says the command was to “be fruitful and multiply.”

 

The context makes clear that God’s intent wasn’t for mankind just to populate the earth. He wanted more men, women and children “in His own image.” That means people that would accurately represent His character, attributes and values.

 

Getting back to the question of whether you have considered developing a vision for yourself and your family – where do you see yourself and them a year from now, or five years from now?What would you like to see – in both the near and not-so-near future?

 

Having a personal vision doesn’t have to be complicated. But it could help you answer questions such as those listed earlier in this post: Where are we going? How are we going to get there? How will we know when we’ve arrived?

 

Becoming a godly individual, what the apostle Paul described as a “faithful man” in 2 Timothy 2:2, doesn’t happen automatically. It takes intentionality and determination. There’s no simple, five-step formula for making this happen. But it does help to have a plan. 

 

We can set reasonable goals – what would we like to accomplish, and how to go about doing it. And we should have a vision for what we would like to see the Lord do in our lives, so that one day we can experience the fulfillment of Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

 

It’s true that we don’t know what the future holds, but as followers of Christ we know the One who holds the future. As Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch author and World War II concentration camp survivor wrote, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

 

Jesus taught His followers, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20). That’s having a vision for the future.

 

The life we experience on earth, in the light of eternity, is what the Scriptures term “just a vapor.” But eternity, as a grade-school youngster observed, is “a really long time.” What’s your vision for the impact your life can have for eternity?

Life – A Real Hit and Mist Proposition

You’ve probably noticed, but Christmas is fast approaching. Many of us are very much in the midst of preparations, worrying if there’s enough time to get things done. But before we know it, Christmas will become a fading memory. Poof! Funny how that happens.

 

Have you ever gotten up in the morning and looked out the window to see a light fog blanketing the landscape? Then, 10-15 minutes later you glanced out again to see the sun breaking through and the mist has vanished? In some ways, this and the now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t nature of Christmas are metaphors for everyday living.

 

The journey through life is a curious one. When you’re young it feels as if you’ll live forever; and things you’re looking forward to – birthdays, Christmas, summer vacation – seem to take forever to arrive. Then as you grow older the pace of life seems to quicken. Much-anticipated events – like Christmas – arrive much faster and before you know it, they’re gone. Like the morning mist that’s here one minute and gone the next.

As the years go by, we also experience a somber reality: the passing of old friends and family members; former classmates in high school and college; coworkers past and present; parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts and cousins. They’re here – and then they’re not. These sad events confirm that life is shorter than we once believed. Like the morning mist, one day we all will be missed.

 

Just in case we might forget this, James 4:14 offers this sobering reminder, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (Is that why our thinking sometimes gets a little foggy?)

 

Familiar Christmas carols and songs have a way of jogging our memories as well. We enjoy hearing beloved tunes by the likes of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, Karen Carpenter, Johnny Mathis, Burl Ives and others. Their music lives on, but they’re no longer with us. 

 

Or consider classic Christmas films like “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed; “Miracle on 34^th Street” with Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood and Maureen O-Hara; “A Christmas Carol” with Alistair Sim (or Reginald Owen); and one of my all-time favorites, “March of the Wooden Soldiers” starring the slapstick duo of Laurel & Hardy. Their personas perpetuated on film long after they’ve departed this life.

 

If we ponder this long enough it can be depressing. Who wants to think of their own lives as “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”? But we can use this truth as a positive motivator instead, appreciating the time we have and determining to use it to accomplish something worthwhile.

 

The Scriptures seem to endorse the latter approach. Psalm 90:12, for instance, encourages us to let the Lord “teach us to number our day aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Similarly, the apostle Paul admonished his readers they should be “redeeming the time” or, ”making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). Days are “evil” because – unless you’re having a real-life “Groundhog Day” experience – time doesn’t give us a do-over.

 

Jesus sought to impress on His hearers the proper perspective to maintain, striving to live each day with our devotion to God paramount. He said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:33-34).

 

Again, thoughts of how transitory life is can overwhelm us. But if we seek to understand God’s point of view, we can find this reality encouraging. First of all, God is in control. As Psalm 139:16 (in the New Living Translation) tells us, “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

 

Secondly, if we’ve entrusted our lives and hearts to Jesus Christ, we’re assured that when our “earthly mist” disappears, the best is yet to come. Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms…. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me…” (John 14:1-3).

That should leave you feeling a little misty – in a good way! 

What Will Happen ‘Just a Few Minutes from Now’?

Have you thought much about eternity lately? Probably not. For most of us, just getting through today is enough of a challenge. I do know that, as one young student told her teacher, “Forever is a really long time,” and it seems to me, eternity is forever and then some.

Whether we like to think about it or not, eternity is in the future for every one of us. And even if we have many years of life on earth remaining, when viewed from an eternal perspective, it’s still just blip on the radar screen of time. So, how are we to proceed? The Scriptures can offer some useful insights.

 

Even an extremely long life – 80, 90 or even 100 years – is just a “vapor,” according to James the apostle. He wrote, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist [vapor] that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:3-14).

 

Well, that’s a pretty pessimistic way of looking at things, don’t you think? Many of us already have plans for vacations next year, are contemplating a new car, or maybe changing careers. Thinking about our lives as a “vapor” or “mist” is kind of discouraging. Maybe, but in the eternal scheme of things, it’s true.

 

An old friend of mine and a former boss, Ted DeMoss, used to give a talk called “Just a Few Minutes from Now.” He’d reflect on family members or friends who had died and gone to heaven, musing that even if he lived for a long time, in terms of eternity he’d be seeing them again “just a few minutes from now.”

 

As you get older and see more and more friends and family members leaving this life, you think about things like this more often. It’s not morbid, just realistic. You start to assess what you’ve already done and what you hope to do yet, the Lord willing. Another friend of mine calls it “living in the dash,” referring to the dash nestled between the date of birth and date of death on a tombstone.

 

This makes it all the more imperative to take to heart the admonition of Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

 

It was British missionary C.T. Studd who wrote, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, soon will its fleeting hours be done.” Again, he wasn’t being melancholy or morose; Studd was acknowledging the “vaporish” nature of life and the importance of striving to leave the best mark possible before it ends.

 

For some of us, the first step is making certain where we’ll be going when the door to this life closes and the doorway to the rest of eternity opens. The apostle Peter referred to this when he wrote, “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble” (2 Peter 1:10).

 

How can we make God’s calling, His “election” sure? The Scriptures teach there is only one way. Jesus Christ boldly declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We find this affirmed in Acts 4:12. While speaking to members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, Peter asserted, “This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

 

As we consider everything we’re looking forward to, our dreams, plans and expectations, it’s easy to reason, “Yeah, but I’ve got lots of time. I can deal with that later.” Maybe – but maybe not. Speaking to His disciples not only about death but also the end of time as we know it, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come” (Mark 13:31-33).

 

We find a vivid illustration of this in 1 Corinthians 15:52, concerning Christ’s second coming. It states, “…we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

As we go through the busyness of each day, all of our commitments and challenges, we should always keep in mind what lies ahead “just a few minutes from now.” 

Life – It’s Really Just the Tip of the Drumstick

The other day at my drum lesson, I had a bit of an epiphany (not to be confused with tympani). My teacher, who like me had met AARP membership criteria long ago, and I got into a conversation about the brevity of life and how the majority of our earthly existence is already behind us.  

As we were chatting, I glanced at the tip of one of my drumsticks. The tip is less than one-half inch, while the entire stick is more than 16 inches long. A drummer uses the entire drumstick, of course, but the tip is where the action is. This prompted me to think about the span of one’s life here on earth, compared to eternity. 

 

The average American lives well beyond the age of 70, although we all know of people who passed away much younger. And there are many people living well into their 80’s, 90’s, and some past 100. That seems like a long time, but as a little girl once said, “Eternity – well, that’s like forever!” Yep, a very, very long time.

 

Which begs the question, if our time on earth is equivalent to the tip of a drumstick, while the entire drumstick (and beyond) represents eternity, why are we so focused on just the tip?

 

Skeptics might contend that this life is all there is, there’s nothing after we die. If that’s the case, we might do well to consider the somewhat pessimistic perspective of the author of Ecclesiastes, who wrote, “So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 8:15). Eat, drink and be merry, ‘cause tomorrow you may die! 

 

However, the same book’s writer also observed, “[God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). In response to the plaintive question of the old song, “Is that all there is?”, the Bible teaches emphatically, “No, that’s not all there is.”

 

The Scriptures don’t sugarcoat the reality of life. As it says in James 4:14, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.” The New International translates the word as “mist.” Vapor or mist, neither is anything you can hang onto for long.

 

But rather than telling us to resign ourselves to a relatively short-lived existence, the Bible is filled with passages and promises that essentially tell us, “Quit concentrating on the tip of the drumstick and learn to value the entire stick.”

 

In what’s perhaps the best-known verse of Scripture, John 3:16, we’re told, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This isn’t referring to the fabled fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon searched for, but life that continues long after we take our last breath on planet Earth. 

 

The apostle John expanded on this when he wrote, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:12-13).

 

Speaking to Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish leader, Jesus Christ referred to this when He said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).

 

On another occasion, Jesus assured His followers, “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Another translation terms it “abundant life.” Either way, He was not referencing hefty wallets and investment portfolios, shiny cars and grandiose houses, but life for all of eternity with our Heavenly Father.

 

Writing a final charge to his protégé, Timothy, the apostle Paul clearly understood there’s more to life than what he’d experienced on “terra firma.” With his sights set on what awaited him, Paul declared: 

“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, for which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

 

Even though in Romans 6:13 he wrote about our offering ourselves as “instruments of righteousness,” I don’t think he had drums or even drumsticks in mind. But he might have appreciated that metaphor for pondering this life and the life to come.

 

How about us? Is our concentration fixed totally on this particular moment, tomorrow or next month, or have we given thought to what is, as Paul phrased it, “in store” for us in eternity, beyond the “drum tip” of everyday life?