Sight vs. Vision

This summer I have been wrestling with lessons God has been teaching me about perspective and focus.  Man, am I prone to wander and oh, do I feel it!  We've been singing "Be Thou My Vision" this summer with our campers and I started to ask myself what it means to really have Christ's vision.  All in all I think our vision determines a lot of where our perspective and our focus land—but what does it truly mean to have His vision?

This past week I was walking down the dusty camp road and for a split second everything around me went a little fuzzy—in that moment the sun came out, shining brightly.  God instantly reminded me about the story of Saul's conversion from despising anything to do with Christ to actually following Him.  As Saul was traveling to literally hunt Christians, we are told:

"Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'  And he said, 'Who are you, Lord?'  And he said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.   But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.'  The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.  Saul rose from the ground and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.  So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.  And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank." (Acts 9)

Later it records:

"So Ananias departed and entered the house.  And laying his hands on him (Saul) he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'  And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight.  Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened." 

What an amazing encounter with God.  Saul physically felt and heard the Lord.  I find it incredible that Saul lost his earthly sight, but gained a heavenly vision that can never be taken away.  That God completely transformed Saul's life in an instant and did it in such a tangible way.  The image of us having to lose our own vision to gain His kingdom vision is evident in Saul's story.  

Helen Keller once shared, "The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."  I believe it!  What good are our eyes if we have no vision to look for Christ and His calling?  Saul, who was later called Paul, was a perfect example of this truth.

Paul's miraculous conversion wasn't the end of it.  He wasn't a "one and done" figure throughout scripture.  He went on to a life full of vision for Christ's kingdom and relentless action to see that vision outworked.  

You never see Paul asking "why me"—and if anyone had a reason to question their circumstances he would.  He knew that Christ's vision and kingdom was worth the momentary discomfort and pain.  He was a man that encountered God and then did something about it.  Paul wrote twenty-eight percent of the New Testament.  He saw thousands of people give their lives to Christ.  He witnessed miracles and through the strength of the Holy Spirit performed miracles.  Through all of it—the extreme ups and downs of his ministry—Paul records in Philippians:

"I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.  In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

Paul was a man that could rejoice through it all.  He found the deepest joy because he knew no matter what, the thing that mattered most was Christ.  He relentlessly pursued the things that Christ gave him vision for—he persevered and never gave in.  We need to be a people of passion that pursue the kingdom.  We do this by encountering Christ and proclaiming what He has done for us—declaring the ways that He has revealed himself.   

Paul also says in Colossians:

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."

It’s such a paradox that Paul literally became blind so that he could gain vision to see what actually mattered for the first time.  If Paul were to truly walk as he had received Christ, he would become blind to his own human sight and gain Christ's kingdom vision every day.  Laying down his own thoughts, wants, and desires to pick up Christ’s purpose for his life. 

Where were you when you received Christ?  How did you encounter Him?  What was the feeling when you realized for the first time you were truly free?  Are we walking in Him—rooted and built up, established in the faith, abounding in thanksgiving—just as we received Christ?  Or have we lost the excitement?  The vision?

I want to encounter God every day.  I want to walk in the excitement and passion that I first felt when I received Christ.  I want to lose my vision only to gain His.  I want to look at any circumstance and count it joy.  I want to relentlessly outwork the vision that He is providing.  Because there is a vision that gives hope, friends!  Even in the darkest places.  Proclaim it—declare it—rejoice in it! 

Let this be our battle cry: 

Be thou my vision, o Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me, save that thou art

Thou my best thought, by day or by night

Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light

Your presence alone is our light, Lord.  Thank you, Jesus, for your vision!