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Saturday, May 9, 2020

Ideal or Vision

5/9/2020
Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.”


Ideal – adj.
                1.
Satisfying one’s conception of what is perfect; most suitable
                2.
Existing only in the imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become reality

Vision – noun
                The ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom


In today’s study, Chambers asks us to consider the difference between an ideal and a vision. As defined above, one is not a reality while the other involves having a plan. Most people who hold an ideal in some form or another do not usually act on it, because it regards a concept of perfection. We can say things like, “In an ideal world there would be no hunger.” A person with vision, however, can see the idea and the practical thinking behind it, then figure out a way to get closer to the ideal. These people are the ones with vision. Not all visionaries have the knowhow to apply their creative thinking to a functional plan, but those people often times get others on board to help with the process. Vision compels action. Chambers writes, “But whenever there is vision, there is also a life of rectitude because the vision imparts moral incentive.”

As believers, we need to be careful of living in ideals alone, without vision. When we become stagnant in our faith, we lose connection and hence vision. I know this happened to me during a time when I leaned too heavily on my own understanding; I was not faithfully seeking God through prayer and His word, and I became motionless. Chambers says, “If we are eating what we have out of our own hand, doing things on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on a downward path, we have lost the vision.” When God gives you the vision, pray about it and act. Trust Him fully, and He will guide your steps.

Be Thou My Vision – 4Him

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