Be Thou My Vision

We live within a Christian culture where vision is very important. For passionate followers of Jesus having vision has become paramount to life. I encounter so many people who are frustrated and disillusioned with life because they’re lacking this thing called ‘vision’. And I’ve been there myself, wishing that God would show me something, anything (!) to give me purpose and security for what my life is about.

But how often does this notion of ‘vision’ become debilitating rather than defining? Do we allow vision, or lack of it, to dictate whether we have purpose, meaning, validation? What is our frustration and what is the fear that instigates this desperation for the big V-word?

In the Bible the word ‘vision’ is used to describe ‘visions’ that come to people through dreams, what we might call a vivid experience or prophetic image. These visions were clear messages from God – He spoke His direct word to unveil His love for nations, direction and discipline, prophecies for the future. And all these things are available to us today, as we have access to the covenant relationship, which includes hearing His voice. Yet the idea of ‘vision’ in the context of knowing our calling is not so clear. The visions experienced by some of the Old Testament characters and Prophets, as well as Paul in the New Testament, enabled them to confidently pursue what God had put before them. But Jesus never once mentions the word vision in the Gospels. Could it be that the man with the greatest calling the world has ever known didn’t seem to have ‘vision’ so high up on his agenda?

We are called and we are given vision, just not always in the way that we expect it. The Great Commission so clearly set out the notion that we are called to something which gives us a goal, a purpose, an earth-effected eternal destiny. So how do we define what our big V is all about?

Whilst Jesus doesn’t talk about vision or calling in the way we do, He does offer an invitation, by literally ‘calling’ the disciples to Him. The call on their lives is to come and be discipled by Him, to journey with Him, learn from Him, be friends with Him. And He offers us a vision: the vision of Himself and the vision of His future glory. It’s a life-giving vision in that, as we look on Him, we ourselves are transformed into His likeness. The things He has created and embedded within us, become fully alive in His Kingdom.

It’s easy to feel like somehow ‘Jesus’ is just not enough. We want to know what our personal calling is, our purpose, how we are going to change the world. But how often is the need for vision about our security in what we’re doing and our fear of sharing our true dreams with those around us?

Relationship with Jesus is the most exciting calling that’s ever been offered to the world. Living out our calling is about responding to His call, to relationship with Him. The vision is having a vision of Him and through that knowing Him and ourselves more. One of the verses I’ve been meditating on recently is from Psalm 37: ‘Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.’ We must first delight in Him, have a vision of Him and know Him more intimately and He will then show us our true desires that He has placed within us and that He partners with us in bringing about.

So when we question whether we’ve got vision, our starting place is looking at Him. Do I have a clear vision of Jesus; do I pursue the call to having greater relationship with Him; is His purpose the call I am truly pursuing?

As Paul put so well to the Ephesians:

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…” (Ephesians 1 NIV)