Back when I was in university, one of the first jobs I had was working as an admin assistant at Power to Change (used to be called Campus Crusade for Christ Canada). I worked in the President’s Office there, which is the part of Power to Change that dealt with the overall vision for P2C. At the time, P2C was going through a process called “retooling and strategic planning.” My boss was working with a consulting company that was helping P2C to clarify its vision and sharpen its strategy.
I realize that “vision” is such a buzzword today. We look at all these giants in tech who have broken ground in the field, and call them “visionary.” We think of visionary people as those who live with purpose and intention. There is definitely a lot that we can learn from visionary people. And while all of this is good, I think we need to recognize that this is different from kingdom vision.
Here is what I think the difference is. The kind of vision above comes from us. We use the best of our skills, organization, efforts, and abilities to create something good. On the other hand, kingdom vision comes from God. The focus is not on our efforts and abilities, but on the grace, power, and presence of God.
I think the life of Stephen in Acts 6-7 is a great example of this. Stephen was the first deacon of the church, and he lived with extraordinary vision. But this vision didn’t come from him. We have an amazing story at the end of Acts 7 of the kind of vision that Stephen lived with.
Stephen was being persecuted by the Jewish leaders, who were telling lies about him and slandering him. The situation got so severe that they brought him before the Sanhedrin court, and ended up dragging him out of the city. Stephen faced the most severe kind of challenge–his life was at stake. But even in his, we read in Acts 7:55-56,
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Stephen lived with vision. But it wasn’t vision that came from him, or the fact that he was a visionary leader. It was an actual vision of God, a view into heaven and the glory of God. This vision was so powerful, so compelling, that even in the face of death he couldn’t be broken.
The power of kingdom vision is the power of God, and that far surpasses any kind of vision we can create for ourselves. May God give us such kingdom vision for our own lives!