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The Vision Is Jesus

The Vision Is Jesus

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The Wake-Up Call is a daily encouragement to shake off the slumber of our busy lives and turn our eyes toward Jesus.

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PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

Jesus, we belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Acts 26:19–24

“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”

CONSIDER THIS

Vision has become a big concept in the world of leadership. It’s created an entire industry of gurus and buzzwords and best practices. There are vision-casting and visioneering and visionary leaders who lead visionary organizations. “He’s a visionary,” people will say about some leaders. Then we get to mission statements and onward to strategies and objectives and goals and tactics and, before you know it, we need a couple of bishops or a consultant to sort everything out again.
 
All of this finds its way into our businesses, organizations, and yes—churches. As relates to the church, there’s a slightly major corrective I’d like to propose in this whole conversation. Too often, the idea of a vision means the leader’s latest greatest ideas and plans for the church. These are often great ideas (unless they are not), and they may help fulfill the vision, but we should not consider them our vision.
 
The church (really, every organization) needs visionary leaders, but of a different sort. We don’t need leaders who have a vision, but leaders who can see the vision and whose primary charism (gift) is that of helping others to see it too.
 
That’s what Paul is saying in today’s text. He speaks of the vision from heaven. It makes sense, doesn’t it? The most fundamental prayer Jesus taught us to pray was, “Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.” And what does that vision look like? Thanks for asking.
 
First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. . . . I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.
 
Didn’t Jesus say something like that?  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). 
 
The vision is Jesus. And I don’t mean Jesus in a Sunday schoolish reductionistic manner. I mean Jesus in an ever-expansive fashion. The vision is Jesus—his kingdom and his righteousness. The vision is not just Jesus as Savior, but Jesus as Lord. The vision is not just Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but Jesus from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. As we behold the vision of Jesus, we become the vision of Jesus and then others can begin to glimpse the vision. Jesus is the icon of the Father and by the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we become the icon of Jesus in the world.
 
So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.
 
Jesus is the vision from heaven. 
 
Closing—a vision is not all the stuff we are going to do for Jesus. It is him manifesting himself through our lives in the world. 
 
Can you see him? Will you let him become you?

THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION

Lord Jesus, I am your witness. I long to be like you. 

I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.

Come, Holy Spirit, transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.

THE JOURNAL PROMPTS

What do you think about this distinction between a leader having a vision for the future and seeing the vision from heaven? Which one is the leader you are following now offering? 

THE HYMN

Today we will sing “Be Thou My Vision” (hymn 49) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here. 

For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt

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Comments

2 Responses

  1. Excellent!!! Today’s Wake-up call promotes the vision of the enacted Kingdom of God. Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the the Father does the son also does.” (John 5:19) As God’s adopted children, we would do well to do the same. Be thou our vision.

    Reply

  2. I woke up with this poem developing in my mind.

    I love to see
    Amazing grace
    Gleam and shine
    From someone’s face.

    I love to see
    People let
    Jesus replace
    Their self-focus
    With His grace,
    And watch Him erase
    Their sadness and guilt.

    I love to see
    Christ’s joy shine
    On people’s face
    With no trace
    Of human pride.
    That happens when
    They embrace
    The risen Jesus
    With all their heart.

    I love to see
    People surrender
    To the presence and grace
    Of “Christ in you,”
    And go far beyond
    Routine religion.

    Reply

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