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Vision is a powerful motivator in a person's life. Vision inspires passion, enthusiasm, energy, endurance. Vision is more than seeing the big picture although it involves that; vision is a dynamic inner connection with a force from outside ourselves whether good or evil.
Generally we think of vision in terms of positive ways and maybe that is true to some extent. But there is also the fact that the Tree of Knowledge has a “good” side that is still not associated with the Tree of Life.
Maybe that's where pride comes in. Vision that is not rooted in the seeds from the Tree of Life will have a great deal of pride involved. We often hear of people who have great vision and passion to become famous or rich or powerful; that is the world's version of motivation for success. We are taught it in seminars; bookstores are full of such teaching and even our churches generally subscribe to some form of this kind of thinking as well.
But this is not the vision that comes from God; it is born of pride and selfishness and thrives at the expense of others. Only those who are willing to synchronize with us for our benefit are looked upon with favor. I have experienced this in multi-level marketing though it is pervasive in most types of business.
This “form” of vision is based on pride and the passion produced by it is really greed. There are many leaders in companies who want to inspire their subordinates with “vision” so the company can be more successful and they can become richer. But it does not take long before the underlying pride leaks through the facade and the participants either become united in pride and promote the usual deception associated with it or they become very disillusioned and even bitter about the exploitation they are experiencing. That is what is described in this verse – people who do not share in a vision feel manipulated and want to “cast off restraint” – restraint and control that is exploiting them for someone else's selfish advantage.
Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint; But he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (Proverbs 29:18 ASV) I looked up the original words for keeping the law and found something a bit different than my first impression. It is describing one who values, watches, observes, pays attention to the Torah or what is now the first five books of the Bible. This is not primarily referring to the ten commandments although they are included; it is really talking about a person who is living with an attitude of desiring to know the ways of God, what He is like and how He relates to people. It is really describing the exact opposite of what is described in the first part of the text. It is talking about a person who shares the vision of God and desires to know what He is really like. This verse asserts that this is the condition where happiness is found.
“There is a difference between an ideal and a vision. An ideal has not moral inspiration; a vision has. The people who give themselves over to ideals rarely do anything....
“When once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless, we cast off certain restraints, we cast off praying, we cast off the vision of God in little things and begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating what we have out of our own hand, doing things on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on the downward path, we have lost the vision.” (My Utmost for His Highest 5/9)
Someone who is very close to me has lost their vision and I can see the symptoms in their life. No amount of pointing out their faults will inspire them to change course right now, for they have lost most of their passion to know God and are slowly losing their motivation for growth. They are pulling away from church, from Bible study and even from their friends. They are filling their mind with deceptive ideas and entertainment and are starting to shrivel up because they have lost vision and thereby motivation to thrive.
I pray that God will give me the eyes of heaven and the passion of God to relate to them from a perspective of vision instead of criticism. I want to “love the law”, to have the way God thinks written into my heart (Eze. 36) so I will have the motivation and the right spirit to re-ignite a vision in their heart and life. I need to have a stronger vision and passion myself or I can be quickly dampened while trying to ignite the soggy, discouraged spirits of others. I want to live in the burning presence of God and be filled with His passion – that is very close to compassion isn't it?
