The minister's family - Chauncey and Jessie
Children from left to right: Eric (9), Austin (10), Tabitha (the daughter of Chauncey's niece) and Autumn (7).
Proverbs 29:18 –
Where there is no vision, the people perish:
but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (King James)
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
but blessed is he who keeps the law. (NIV)
If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves;
but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed. (The Message)
More often than we care to admit, we really do need to "Be still, and know that [He is] God” (Psalm 46:10). It has been said that reflection helps us to make the connections of past events, to make sense of the stuff of our lives. We have talked much recently about the need for growth; we have pointed out that if we are not growing we are, in fact, dying. More recently I have been speaking in various settings of the need for a vision.
There are, therefore, a few questions upon which we need to reflect.
· Where are we headed – both individually and as congregations?
· Are we growing? If so, in what ways?
· Looking back at the past five years, what should be our personal goal and our congregational goal for the next six months, year, and five years?
· Are we “surviving” or “thriving”?
In his book, Better Than Success: 8 Principles of Faithful Leadership, Dr. C. Jeff Wood has written, “Often, the difference between surviving and thriving as a church is discerning a vision from God… There is no greater satisfaction for a church body than knowing that it is heading in a direction established by God. Faithful ministry is concerned with serving God, not the world.” (p. 2)
In the well-known passage from Proverbs quoted above, our well-being as Christians and as congregations (assembly or collection of Christians) depends on how obedient we are to revelation. The verse actually refers to two forms of revelation – vision and law. Over and over in the prophetic writings we see that when the reliance on revelation is absent, people can expect spiritual and political anarchy. The second portion of the Proverb provides the positive wording: there is a blessing for the one who keeps the law.
Are we ready to quit stumbling all over ourselves and receive God’s blessing? If so, we need to be seeking God’s will by means of prayer, bible study, and reflection. In the words of Dr. Wood, “A vision can turn surviving congregations into thriving congregations and maintenance organizations into movement organizations.” We need to be seeking out the will of God for our personal lives and for our congregations so that we will please God and receive the blessing and, secondly, it might be said of us – like the men of Issachar – they “understood the times and knew what [they] should to” (1 Chronicles 12:23).
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