What's Your Vision?

Everyone from business schools to bestselling speakers tells you to find your vision and know your why. The Bible talked about vision three thousand years ago, but it means something different. It means revelation from God, not a plan you dream up on your own. If you want a vision for your life that lasts, start by listening to what God has already said, and obey it.

What does the Bible mean by vision?

In the Bible, vision means revelation: seeing your life from God's perspective because He has spoken. The verse most people quote reads differently in modern translations.

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom's instruction.

Proverbs 29:18

Older translations say, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." The guest speaker that weekend pointed out that Solomon wrote in an age of prophets. They lived close to God, received a fresh word from Him, and passed it on to the people without adding to it. When Israel listened, things went well. When they ignored it, things went badly.

Biblical vision is God speaking, and His people hearing and heeding.

How is God's vision different from the world's?

The world's vision leaves God out. On Beyond Sunday, Pastor Sean Sloan agreed that the world is right about one thing: purpose matters. If you don't know your why, your how gets confused.

But worldly vision is about advancing yourself, a cause, or even other people. Some of it is noble. None of it is about honoring God or following the way He designed you. So when you sense a dream for your life, ask an honest question. Is this a revelation from God, an idea from my own imagination, or a picture someone else has projected onto me?

What did Paul's vision cost him?

It cost him the success he used to chase, and he called the trade glorious.

What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.

Philippians 3:8

Pastor Sean pointed out a detail worth noticing: what exactly did Paul count as garbage? Before he met Jesus, Paul was respected, rising in power, and acting on behalf of the religious leaders. After the Damascus road, his life included beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, hunger, and poverty. Yet he called his old success worthless and his new, harder life glorious. A vision from God gave him meaning that hardship couldn't take away.

Why can't some people see what God has shown?

Some people can't see because their minds are blinded. Paul sets vision and blindness side by side:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

2 Corinthians 4:4

God has already made a great deal plain. Theologians call part of it natural revelation: what anyone can see about God through creation. "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1), and Romans 1:20 says creation shows enough of God that people are without excuse.

Special revelation is how God speaks more directly: through Scripture, through sending Jesus Christ, and through what His Spirit speaks to you in prayer. A God-given dream for your life belongs to this second kind.

How do you receive a vision from God?

You receive it by listening, understanding, and obeying what He has already said. Pastor Sean highlighted three things about how revelation works.

• It's a conversation. God speaks, and you receive and respond. He has spoken even to people who never receive it, so revelation also depends on whether you're open.
• It calls for awareness, understanding, and obedience. Notice what God has said, discern what it means, and then do it.
• Obedience comes before more. Don't expect more direction until you start acting on what God has already shown you.

If you want to know what God is saying about your life, start with what He has already said in His Word. Walk in it daily, and He opens your eyes to more.

Will a God-sized dream make life easier?

Not necessarily. A revelation from God carries no promise of wealth, health, and comfort. God may use those things in your life, or He may lead you through difficulty and even persecution. Paul described what that looked like:

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

2 Corinthians 4:16-17

The weekend's speaker talked about Christ followers he knows who sought God for a fresh vision. They did it through prayer, solitude, sacrifice, and fasting, and every one of them would tell you it was worth it. Once your eyes are opened to what God is saying, the things you used to chase start to look worthless. Things you never gave time to start to look worth your life.

Common questions

What does "where there is no vision, the people perish" mean?

Proverbs 29:18 is about revelation, a word from God. Without God's revealed direction, people cast off restraint. It is more than a call to set goals. It's a call to listen to God and follow what He says.

How do I know if a dream is from God?

Ask whether it honors God and lines up with what He has already revealed in Scripture, or whether it mainly serves you or comes from others' expectations. Pray, listen, and obey what you already know.

What is the difference between natural and special revelation?

Natural revelation is what anyone can see about God through creation, as Psalm 19 and Romans 1 describe. Special revelation is God speaking more directly through Scripture, through Jesus Christ, and through His Spirit in prayer.

Does following God's vision mean life will be easy?

No. Paul's life got harder after he met Jesus, yet he called it glorious. God's vision brings meaning and inner renewal that last through hardship.