Joni And Friends Daily Devotional 23 May 2024 Message
TOPIC: Vision
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” – Matthew 6:10
When I paint close to the canvas, I wear heavy-duty, industrial-strength prescription glasses. Those thick lenses help me see things as they should be seen. It’s called vision—seeing things clearly. Vision is also what happens when we see the world as it should be seen, as God sees it. If we don’t envision the world as God sees it, others won’t get the picture. God’s picture. The picture of his kingdom come. Christians see this. We are the ones who have “prescription glasses,” as it were.
Communicating a kingdom vision to the world is a little like snapping a Polaroid and then holding it up so others can get the picture. We present God’s snapshot of what the world should look like, so people might know what is possible. It’s a little like paraphrasing today’s verse: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…May we see it happen on earth just as it is happening in heaven, where we can’t see it.”
Oswald Chambers said, “A man with the vision of God is not devoted simply to a cause or a particular issue…he is devoted to God himself.” If the Lord Jesus is the one to whom you are devoted, you can’t help but be a person of vision. You can’t help but see what he sees regarding the world around you. And you will see the kingdom picture come more into focus, become clearer, the more time you spend with him.
Would you say you are a visionary? If you love Christ, if you desire to see things as he sees them, you definitely are a person of vision. So pray his vision into being. Work to see it happen. Tell others about it. Watch the kingdom develop right before your eyes. And the world—your world—will never be the same.
Without a vision, the people perish. And Lord, without a vision, I would perish. Let me see my world through your eyes. May I pray today’s verse with new insight. Strengthen my eyes…Make clear the vision.
Joni Eareckson Tada is an American evangelical Christian author, radio host, artist, and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization “accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community”.