Where there is no vision,
the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18 KJV)
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 that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,
we will live and do this or that.” As it
is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it,
it is sin for them. (James
3:13-17)
I love
Proverbs 29:18 for all the wrong reasons. It’s about what happens when God
doesn’t speak to a people, when His Word is not revealed given to them. It’s
not really about setting goals, writing vision, or mission statements, but goals
and vision or mission statements serve the same purpose. They are flawed as we
are flawed, but they provide the same three necessary things.
Both revelations from God (God’s Word) and goal setting and vision/mission statements provide
Focus. It gives us somewhere to head, which means we’re not unrestrained, we’re not languishing or perishing. Put simply, you can’t hit a target you don’t have.
Hope, because in having somewhere to go, there is the sense that things will improve.
Discipline, born of hope.
At the same time, we need to be careful. Focus, hope and discipline are all good things, but we sometimes seem to think that we are in control. We’re a-gonna do this and we’re a-gonna do that. Our name will be in lights, our bank accounts will be so big that twenty people couldn’t spend it all in three lifetimes. Make your plans, but don’t forget that God is the one in control. If our plans go no further than what will be good for us, we haven’t thought far enough.
Both revelations from God (God’s Word) and goal setting and vision/mission statements provide
Focus. It gives us somewhere to head, which means we’re not unrestrained, we’re not languishing or perishing. Put simply, you can’t hit a target you don’t have.
Hope, because in having somewhere to go, there is the sense that things will improve.
Discipline, born of hope.
At the same time, we need to be careful. Focus, hope and discipline are all good things, but we sometimes seem to think that we are in control. We’re a-gonna do this and we’re a-gonna do that. Our name will be in lights, our bank accounts will be so big that twenty people couldn’t spend it all in three lifetimes. Make your plans, but don’t forget that God is the one in control. If our plans go no further than what will be good for us, we haven’t thought far enough.
Father, guide us in our plans for 2018. Use
them to give us focus, hope, and discipline as we look to do what benefits
others as well as ourselves.
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