VISION: A LEADER'S HOPE

In The Empowered Leader Calvin Miller wrote, Often vision comes as the result of some tearing circumstance by which we come to an end of our own ability to make life work. But we are never to deplore such times! Miller goes on to say that vision may be the only valid escape from aimlessness.

For the Christian leader, stresses and difficulties fit God's scheme of victorious living. Why else would Paul write, Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. Being weak and strong, simultaneously, will only work if we grasp the truth of how these elements assimilate. We are weak and He is strong; yet the residence of this ironic combination is located within our body, mind, and spirit. Our faith has drawn the Divine into our pitiful system and reversed everything for the good.

As a result we don't just get by in life, for as we believe in God, we turn aimlessness on it's ear! Defensiveness leaves us. We already know we are lacking before our accusers announce it to others. Inadequacy is truly a vital part of the fabric of our fine-tuned being. We can do nothing without God, but we can arise from ashes of discouragement to live productively because of Him.

That life goes smoothly is not a sign that one knows God. That we do not flinch in the center of stress is the marker. Too many snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory by giving up when life gets rough. Maybe we can help one another by pointing out difficulty is merely our trampoline for God's creative solutions. Transform discouragement. Turn it into fuel for even a better direction.