Gotta Have a Vision

"It is easier to serve God without a vision, easier to work for God without a call, because then you are not bothered by what God requires; common sense is your guide, veneered over with Christian sentiment. You will be more prosperous and successful, more leisure-hearted, if you never realize the call of God. But if once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God wants will always come like a goad; you will no longer be able to work for Him on the common-sense basis." ~ Oswald Chambers

I saw this Oswald Chambers quote on Ben Arment's blog this morning (benarment.com). Being a pursuer of God's vision for life and ministry (not my own, mind you--God's, this struck a chord. When we do not wrestle out God's plan and allow a vision to emerge we fall into the plan of each and every day. The tyranny of the urgent controls, whims take us down dead end roads, and we come to the end of the journey wondering if we accomplished anything of significance.

I know some church leaders who chase any direction that strikes their fancy. Call it "flavor of the week". When you change visional direction as often as you change your socks you will lead a confused and aimless group of people.

Yeah, I'd rather just get out of bed every morning and make life up as I go. That's fun for a while. But the vision keeps me on track, not because it creates a busy to-do list for me, but because it gives me the joy of seeing a marvelous plan unfold. God's vision, the one I participate in, is a really great vision. It not only keeps me focused, but it makes it worth getting out of bed in the mornings. The grand and beautiful vision gives me energy to press through the "stuff" of life because I can see in my spirit what it looks like when the goals are met.

It is easier to serve God without a vision and just go with the flow of whatever comes my way--at least in the short term. But, I choose to follow a better way (look for the word "better" throughout the book of Hebrews). I choose to let the hands of the potter shape my life each and every day.

David Delp, http://aGoodDeposit.com

Making a Mark

The theme for our network conference is "make your mark on our movement". It is good to stop and ask ourselves whether or not we are making an impact, whether or not we are relevant, and whether or not our obedience to Christ is affecting anything beyond our own world...because it should. Without any aspersions to the former question, the question I must ask myself is, "Have I allowed Christ to leave his mark on me?"

I am very much aware that those who have made deep contributions to the betterment of the world, of our Fellowship, and have affected many lives usually were not aware that they really were making much of a difference. It was their hope and desire, but the mark of the master on them evoked a passion propelling them to simplistic and faithful obedience.

Our great leader shared with us a story of a missionary couple who lost their firstborn son to disease while in process of faithful obedience in the African wilderness, decades ago before advances in transportation and technology. These missionaries had not yet left any marks of significance and, while they went on to do things we consider great and spectacular, in the moment of their loss I would venture they felt quite insignificant and wondered if it was really worth it, but they stayed faithful to the mark the master had left upon them, probably not thinking much about the mark they might leave on the kingdom of God.

What enables men and women to accomplish things that we, with full 360 degree view, admire as spectacular? First of all, when we set out to do the spectacular it is rarely spectacular, but when we set out to just be faithfully obedient to our master and allow him to place his mark upon us, we will accomplish his good and pleasing will in our lives.

For me, I need to focus more on positioning myself in proximity to to Master so he can make a deep and indelible mark upon my life. Wherever he leads me and whatever passions he evokes in me will lead me well. At the end of my life how will I measure the mark I've left behind...it will only be revealed in eternity.

These days I don't think a lot about the mark I will make, but I think a lot about the mark of the Master on my life through the cross. Oh, I think I will make a mark but it will be because of the mark he has made upon me.

- David Delp . AGoodDeposit.com