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Visionaries

  • January 9, 2017
  • Posted by: Carolyn Mahal
  • Category: Devotions
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For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

Some people are visionaries – people who see things that nobody else sees. They don’t look at what exists and try to make it better. They look at what doesn’t yet exist and work to create it. Imagine the discussions that must have taken place at Apple so many years ago when the iPod was first being proposed. Someone sat down and pitched the idea of creating a device that would allow people to purchase music by downloading files containing an individual song from the Internet. These files would be stored on a portable device which could be backed up on a computer. By today’s standards, this is common place. However, at that time, music lovers went to the music store in the mall and bought whole albums on either a CD or a cassette tape (or vinyl for you old-timers). You couldn’t easily buy just the one song you wanted, and over time you would have boxes, shelves, and in some cases entire rooms filled with music. That same library can now be stored on one device that is the same size as the audio cassette tape it helped make obsolete. The iPod totally changed the music listening experience.

When we look ahead at the lives we live, many of us are simply looking forward to ways we can improve the things we already do, and this is a noble thing. We should want to get better. But while this can help to make us better where we are today, does this really propel us to where we need to be tomorrow? My belief is that the truly innovative people in our world are the ones who are not looking to improve but to evolve; changing over from one thing that we had been into something totally new. What’s more, I believe this idea to be Biblical in nature.

In the waters of Holy Baptism, we did not merely wash away the sins of our past so we could set out anew. Instead, we put down what had been and transformed ourselves into something new in Christ. Paul’s words in Romans 6:4 confirm this as he says, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” As our Creator and ultimate visionary, God the Father has always known who He created us to be. Our sin, our insecurities, our fears, our world, and the influences of the enemy create barriers that distract us, planting seeds of doubt designed to lead us away from our destiny and the blessings that come with achieving it.

Classroom teachers provide another level of visionary thinking.  They look at the work and abilities of their students and create a plan for them that will allow the student to realize their full potential. For many, this plan may seem impossible.  It’s hard for us to see a future pastor, lawyer, business owner, or pastry chef in the day to day activities of a child sitting in a third grade classroom. If that student requires help in the resource room, that vision may be even cloudier. But when parents and teachers team up to develop a plan for helping a child, amazing things can happen. The plans, followed by hard work lead to learning, success, and the opening of doors that would have otherwise remained closed.

So who are you? What were you created to do? Are you unsure? Take time today to seek the face of God to ask for His guidance in finding the answers to all of your questions. God will show you where He intends for you to go. He will give you the path to get there, and no matter how frightening it may seem. He will walk beside you, providing you with everything you need at just the right moment so that His purposes will be met and His plans fulfilled. Hold this confidence in the power of the Lord, and you too can join the prophet in his visionary declaration: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”(Isaiah 43:19)

Devotion by Richard Schumacher

LSEM Director of Programs & Services