 | Currently Reading Visioneering : God's Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Personal Vision By Andy Stanley see related |
In his book Visioneering, Andy Stanley examines the story of Nehemiah, who set himself apart for the purpose of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s vision was about a lot more than a wall, though. It was about restoring Israel to their status as a people set apart by God. If I could, I’d quote Stanley’s entire elaboration for you. It’s that good. If you want to dig into crafting a vision for your life, or for any part of your life… get this book.
I’m suggesting that our vision as CTI fulltimers should be synonymous with our expectation of having an experience of significant spiritual formation through our involvement with the ministry. The passive becomes active: let’s stop expecting some program to turn us into someone we want to become, and instead, choose to actively pursue a vision of spiritual formation for our lives, using the environment and structure of the CTI experience to help us realize that vision.
The fourteenth chapter of Visioneering is all about distractions. Stanley cites three kinds of distractions that can kill a vision: opportunities, criticism, and fear. He goes as far as to say that anyone who pursues a vision will encounter these distractions.
It is our response to those distractions that determines how our vision will be realized – how well our expectations will be met.
The potential distractions for a CTI fulltimer are too numerous to mention.
When Nehemiah was nearing completion on the wall, his adversaries (rulers in the region who didn’t want to see Israel restored) sent him an invitation: “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” (Nehemiah 6:1-2a) Though this could have represented a chance to make peace (seemingly a good opportunity,) Nehemiah’s response, according to Stanley, evidences his commitment to the vision that God had set him apart for:
“I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (v. 2b – 4)
Nehemiah had set himself apart, and saw even a potentially good opportunity as a distraction from the greater work he had been set apart to do. (Oh yeah, and they were plotting to kill him anyway… which really would have derailed the vision.)
Stanley maintains that “any vision worth pursuing will demand sacrifice and risk.” Unquestionably true. So what are the sacrifices we need to make, and the risks we need to take, as we pursue our vision for spiritual growth?
I can come up with a list of suggestions (and, for the sake of future fulltimers who don’t have the benefit of context, I plan to…) but I want to end this exposition on that line of questioning:
What sacrifices do we need to make as we pursue that vision – that expectation we all say we have for an experience of personal spiritual growth? I am convinced that no environment can create that experience for us without our personal willingness to be set apart.
And being set apart begins with the realization that we are doing a great work, and we cannot come down.
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