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?

It’s Uncanny What a Pelican Can Do That We Cannot

What’s your favorite bird? The cardinal, with its bright red plumage? Or the blue jay, another crested specimen in an equally beautiful blue? How about the wobbly-walking penguin, with its tuxedo-like color scheme? Or the stately bald eagle, appropriately chosen as a symbol of American pride and grandeur?

Perhaps your choice would lean toward a more domesticated variety, like a parakeet, canary, cockatoo, or even a parrot. My personal favorite? As was reaffirmed during a recent trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., it’s the pelican. What? That ugly bird? Well, yeah, but not because it has a face only a momma bird could love.

Over the years I’ve observed pelicans at a variety of beaches on Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Each time I’ve been amazed by these skillful fish hunters. They can seem so unpresentable up close – at least when compared to their feathery counterparts, like gulls, puffins, gannets, petrels and terns. (Did you know that one good tern deserves another?) And yet, when flying in formation, gliding along the wind currents as they soar effortlessly overhead, they collectively become a thing of beauty.

 

To me, pelicans provide a powerful visual metaphor for how we must look to God. Ephesians 2:10 declares that we are “God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” However, in His holiness and righteousness, we must sometimes look anything but glowing examples of His workmanship.

 

Earlier in the same chapter it states, “As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sin, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world…gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts…” (Ephesians 2:1-3). Not a very pretty picture; as such, we appeared to be anything but being godly, created in the image of God, as Genesis 1:27 tells us.

 

And yet, to return to the example of Mr. Pelican, he’s been created specially and specifically by God: Beady eyes that work perfectly for spotting fish far above the surface of the water. Its mouth equipped with muscles to pull the flexible lower jawbones outward to form a large pouch suited for catching and transporting its fishy prey. And wings that not only propel it quickly over the water, but also enable it to soar far overhead. 

 

Relating this wondrous design to humans, God’s consummate creation, we can recognize that just as He devised a unique design for the humble pelican, He also has a purposeful, one-of-a-kind design for each of us. As Psalm 139:13-14 reminds us, “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made….”

 

When we are doing what the Lord created us to do, whether it’s raising children, giving a speech, tending to the sick, teaching students, starting a new business, writing a book or dancing on a stage, the Lord must marvel at us with delight. We become transformed, flaws and foibles unseen, like the gawky-looking pelican flying aloft with others in formations that would rival that of precision-piloted jet fighters.

 

As God declares in Isaiah 43:6-7, “…Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” When we’re engaged in pursuits the Lord has prepared for us, we have the privilege of bring Him honor and glory.

 

Speaking of how He revels in turning the hearts of His rebellious children back to Him, God says, “When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel” (Isaiah 29:23).

We might not be capable of soaring high above, carried about by the winds, or diving swiftly into the ocean to capture fish in our mouths. (I’m kind of glad we can’t do the latter.) But when we go to work as ambassadors of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20); or train up our children in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6); or love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31), I suspect we bring even more joy to the heart of God.