What’s your vision?

Guest blog with Tim Childs


When people have a vision, a goal, an aim, they seem to stand out; whatever that goal might be. And if they have enough drive they are often successful in achieving what they set out to do.  



When I say successful, I’m not necessarily talking about becoming rich and powerful, I mean ‘successful’ in the broadest sense: living successfully, holding down a job, volunteering some of your time; for the Christian, serving God each day with a whole heart is the height of success. 

But as well as this, success can mean making money, having a thriving business and pursuing a career in something you really want to do. I find that although my life is far from perfect in many respects, when I have a vision and pursue it, I feel a true sense of accomplishment. 

The majority of us have dreams that motivate us to get out of bed and we work towards these dreams almost every day. We hang on, hoping that we will see our dreams become reality, and sometimes we work day and night to see this dream get off the ground. 

Whether or not I succeed in what I do is less important than the fact that I am busy doing something. Of course, I don’t want to labour fruitlessly, but I believe it’s all in God’s hands anyway; as long as I play my part I have nothing to worry about.

When people lack vision, life can become rather selfish. Material things often become more important than spiritual conditions such as peace, happiness, contentment, joy and genuine wellbeing. 

People indulge their every whim thinking that possessions and other things will make them happy, but in my experience they don’t. To make up for the disappointment, they indulge themselves even more and end up caught in a vicious circle. 

One of the problems with Western society at the moment is that we have become spiritually bankrupt; and when people lose sight of the spiritual, of what really matters in life, they gravitate towards the material. As a result, all of our priorities get skewed: on a global, national and local level, but also on a very personal level.

When humans are greedy and selfish, they stop thinking about other people’s needs. They can become ruthless and even vicious in securing their own wellbeing, even at the expense of other people. 

We all have a selfish streak, and perhaps especially at this time of economic strife we need to stop being selfish and learn how to be practically concerned for other people; regardless of whether you run a successful business or are unemployed like so many of us are at this time.

We can all make the world a worse place, and, guess what? We can all make it a better place too. Whether we have a little or a lot, we can all play our part.

We all need a vision in life. With a vision we can overcome the most dramatic and seemingly immovable objects. Sometimes it’s just about putting one foot in front of the other, and repeating; and knowing where we want to go. 

I think if you know where you want to go, and you know what you want to be, you are half way to fulfilling your dream. I may add, the Christian has the added advantage of leaning fully on God. 

Whatever your vision is, I would encourage you to invite God into your plans. This may come as a surprise, but He might just want you to live a fulfilled, successful life too!

Read more about living a God-focused life in the next issue of Sorted magazine.