Be obedient to my heavenly vision. . .

Life has some big questions, bigger than ‘who will I marry’ and ‘where will I live’ — which are important, but I’m thinking more like, “For what eternal purpose am I on this planet?”

I’m reading about Paul and his calling again. In Acts 26, He relates it to the current (and last) Herod, then says, “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision . . . .”

Paul had an outstanding vision. Christ confronted him years before in shining light and a voice speaking clearly telling him what God wanted him to do.

I’m not Paul, even though my conversion is a tiny bit like his. I was reading a book in my living room, one that, had I followed it, would lead me far from God. It quoted Scripture, out of context and for its own purposes, but God used it to speak to me. The room was filled with light and I knew instantly that Jesus is God in the flesh. At that moment, He changed my life and my direction.

But visions? I’ve had one that is too precious to talk about, but it was not a calling like Paul’s vision. I’ve had profound insights; God is good at giving them to His people, but not a calling like Paul’s insight. However, the earliest deep insight I can remember as a new believer was the truth of Romans 8:28-29. It says that God uses all things in my life to transform me into the image of His Son. In a way, that is like a vision. I clearly see that my destiny is to be like Jesus.

A song says that He is my destiny. The Bible affirms that. Do I have a strong enough concept of what my Vision and what He looks like? I know that when a person puts all their attention on someone else, we tend to pick up their characteristics and become like them. If I look long and often at Jesus, spend much time with Him, listen to Him talk, study how He walked and did things, I would talk and act like Him. We are natural mimics.

God uses a close relationship with Him, but also the issues and pressures of life to shape me and my responses. Based on my vision of Jesus, I’m to respond to each challenge and situation as He would. That is my eternal purpose; to be like Him. It is more than mimicking though, because He lives in me. The key to being like Jesus is to simply get out of His way and let Him out—let Him control my life.

That is so easy to say, but much more difficult to do. My calling is to keep my eyes on Him, not on the challenges, not on the diversions and distractions, not on any personal goals and ambitions, just on the Vision. Then, as Paul said, be obedient to that Vision, to Him only.