A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers     

Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish. . .”  About 400 years ago a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America.  They were our English ancestors.  The first year they established a town site.  The next year they elected a town government.  The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.  In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness.  Who needed to go there anyway?  Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there.  But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision.  Our Scripture lesson today is succinct:  “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”  The Douay-Rheims translation renders the latter portion of the verse, “the people shall be scattered abroad.”  Without vision, we wander aimlessly.  Without vision we see no clear path.  Without vision, without a greater revelation of where we presently are, we cannot recognize the path of destiny that God has outlined for us.  When vision fails, hope fails.  For what greater purpose then are we created if we cannot look above and beyond our present plight?  Friend, always have something greater than where you are right now, to reach for.  In business, it is called strategic planning.  In the kingdom of God, it is called vision.  Churches, families, businesses, and individuals must look above and beyond their present state and see where they need to be years in the future; then once those goals are set, work, on a daily basis to achieve those goals.  Without this visioning process we will grow cold, stale, and ineffective.  So today, build the road westward.  Stretch yourself.  Reach to the future.  As you do, you will begin realizing your God-given dreams, achieving each milestone along the way to fulfilling your destiny, with each new day.