How Big Is Your Vision?

How Big is Your Vision? (by Tim Klink of Prison Discipleship Ministry)

Acts 1:8

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

When we are children, our vision of life is very small and narrow. Everything revolves around us. As we get older, and begin to mature, our vision begins to encompass others. First are those within our family. We find that our parents not only love us, but they also have struggles in life which we become aware of. As God broadens our awareness of others, our vision begins to move from self to them. God is lovingly preparing our hearts for His vision.

As we train for a career, our vision of what that may look like changes many times. My greatest ambition was to finish school and move into the work force. I had a really good job earning $1.75 per hour. Who needs school?

God’s vision included not only finishing high school, but completing many years of post-grad studies. God was equipping me with the tools needed to accomplish His vision, not mine.

Just after I graduated from high school, my ambition was to travel, and see the places that my grandparents travelled to. While a time in the Navy met much of that desire, God’s vision was for me to marry the love of my life that God had prepared just for me, to raise four amazing children, and be the grandpa to eight. God was teaching me the love and struggles within a family to be able to identify with His vision.

When I stepped into my first pastorate in the Detroit area, I thought that was where God would have me serve Him for the rest of my life. After all, Detroit does seem large enough to encompass the uttermost parts of the earth. My memories of the people in the church are all good, but I wonder how they ever put up with such a Pastor as me. God was teaching me humility to accomplish His vision, not mine.

As you serve God today, how big is your vision? God will expand it if you will simply allow Him to lead.