Value the Vision

So these came to Philip… and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."
(John 12:21 – ESV)

People often believe that God is able to help them, but they don’t believe He is willing to, at least not in their particular circumstance. They want to blame some curse or something else, but fail to see the plan of God. The truth is that they want to be helped in the way they want to be helped, and if they aren’t helped in that way, they don’t actually want to be helped, and they will grumble about not being helped.

Into this idea of wanting to see God help us walks Jesus. The passage from John 12:20-36 is very instructive in many things. Jesus teaches us that to die to self and to serve Him will bring honor from God the Father to that person who does so, and spiritual light will be the result. Walking in this light will increase our fruitfulness, our faithfulness, and our fulfillment in God and His plan.

We say we see this, and that we believe it, but then we ask, “Why is it so hard?”

This is not just about Jesus and the plan of salvation, but the plan for our personal deliverance from those sins that we cannot see our way out of. God uses the Bible and your individual experience to craft a personal attack plan for rooting out the sin in your life. Oh, it is the same methods and instruments as He uses for everyone else, but it is indeed a unique plan suited for you. The Holy Spirit is truly guiding the child of God to walk in faith, in the Spirit, to continue down Believer’s Boulevard, turning onto Repentance Road, finding Submission Street.

If you are willing to submit to God’s plan He is willing to help you see it more clearly, as far as the goodness of it goes, and to see how it shapes you, and to have a vision for knowing that He and His plan are righteous and to pursue His righteousness despite circumstances. This all takes spiritual vision, and our focus must be honed, and this happens through submission leading to obedience from the heart of the person who sees the value in it. You have to submit yourself to the vision, the plan of God for your life.

The truth is we don’t submit fully and so we see the obstacles to faith not the object of it.

This lack of true submission can be in particular circumstances that challenge our vision for faith, where we see Jesus as our all in all in general terms, but something else looms larger in the moment. We stop walking and the Light grows dim, we can’t see where we are going, and we fail to move from fear.

This lack of true submission also manifests itself in the larger arena, with people who struggle with an overall level of submission. For them their spiritual vision is mostly an idea, Jesus really isn’t in focus day by day, and He is just turned to when everything else is closing in on them. Many people want just enough God to get out of trouble, but only so as to try it their way once again. The problem with this is that if you get out of trouble, but you don’t get into truth, you will get back into trouble again. Your way won’t work, and you have to see that submission to God is the way into true fulfillment for you.

This is not about everyone else’s idea of God’s plan for you, but God’s own plan just for you. Be honest friend, you know some of it right now, you know how you have to start, and you just won’t do it, because you don’t believe it is actually right. You say it, but you don’t feel it, and so you don’t live it. The walk of faith is fraught with steps of submission, and your strength is in yourself, not in God, and you realize you cannot do it. You fail to submit once again, and you are on your knees, crying, or on your back, dying, or even on your feet, trying, but God just doesn’t seem to be helping you.

However, this plan, as you walk it out and value it, you will see the steps and learn to love the new you, instead of wanting to keep just enough of the old you to feel comfortable.

In either case, whether in momentary lapse of vision, or lack of any real focus within an individual’s life, the diagnosis is the same.

This is the true problem; people don’t believe God will do right by them, as far as their measures are concerned. They feel and live as if their ultimate good must also include their temporal satisfaction. They may indeed let God define a good ending but they define a good life.

You must follow Christ to the Cross by faith. There is no side road to salvation, or deliverance. If you want the power of God, if you want to learn to value the vision, to see how good God really is, you must go down Repentance Road, and make sure you stop at Submission Street. If you don’t, believe me, you will have made a wrong turn.

“Living For Today With An Eye For Tomorrow”©