What is vision?  And how do we know when we've got it?  Many people talk about the necessity of vision without really understanding what it is.  And yet, at the same time, we are well aware of visionary people, those who know where they're heading.

The first characteristic of vision is that it is a view of the future.  A picture of where one hopes to be, or what one hopes to achieve.  It is not - as some think - an impossible dream but an achievable goal.  One person defines it as "an informed bridge from the present to the future".  The only problem is that many "visionary people" have gone under, their vision collapsing around them.  How can we be careful not to allow that to happen to us?

There are no guarantees.  And yet in the church we have a different approach to those in the wider world: we believe that vision comes from God.  In the recognition that we are seeking God's vision, we are also conscious of His equipping and guiding as we seek to live it out.  The possibility of failure increases as we listen less to His guidance.

What is this vision that we seek?  It is a picture of God's preferable future for us.  As it comes from God, then we must spend time not only seeking Him to know it, but also in the living out of it.  It is God's future for us - the adventure of a lifetime!

February 20, 1994