Vision

God has been speaking to me in the past few weeks, you know since I finally got to a place still enough that I could hear him again. A lot of what he's been speaking is for me and not shareable, so I haven't blogged hardly any of it.

But today God showed me something through a song. That's pretty normal for me. Now, I am fully aware that songs are not Scripture , but sometimes the way something is worded in a song makes you think and directs you back to scripture that means something new and fresh that you hadn't seen before.

The song this time is called "I'm No Victim." Originally I hated the song. It felt like a personal anthem of sorts, someone trying to prove something or try to hard. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the song, just a feeling I got, probably tainted by my experiences. But as I listened some more (as I often do when I don't understand what the writer of the song is trying to say) something just clicked for me.

"I'm no victim. I live with a vision."

No one is immune from bad things happening to us. It's not "why me?" but more like "why not me?"  The Bible clearly states that being a Christian doesn't mean life is perfect. That there is never a struggle or things get easy. Actually life keeps going on and rain falls on the just and unjust alike. And in the storm, you have a choice.

Some choose to stay victims of their circumstance. To play the "why me?" game and continue to declare how things aren't fair and how horrible things are. It is there in victimhood, that vision ceases. No wonder they can't move on. They have no where to go. No push, no forward looking thought or goal. They are stuck. All they see is their current status.

Or we become people of vision. When we choose to get out of that place (or not entertain those thoughts to begin with), God provides vision to push us on. Or maybe we get out of that place by pursuing vision. By asking God, "what next?, what do you have for me?"By refusing to stand still.

And when you get even a glimpse of God's vision, his purpose for you, it is motivation to press in. to move forward. Yes, it is much easier to become a victim than pursue God's vision, but it's the hard choice, the right choice that must be made if you are to live the abundant life that God provides.

Because without vision, people perish. Die. Stand still. Rot in stagnation. And that is not God's best for you. For me. For anyone. 

In addition to looking forward, to seeking after what God's next assignment is, we must become people who care more about what God says about us than others. Because the victim needs everyone's approval, sympathy, but the visionary seeks the approval of only one (knowing full well that many around you won't understand).

"I am who he says I am. He is who he says he is. I'm defined by all his promises. Shaped by every word he says,"