The Importance of Vision

An old boss of mine used to say, “Pick a lane and get in it.” That saying of his would generally surface when our organization had researched and analyzed a decision a bit too long. The organization needs to move forward. A decision must be made. That is true for organizations and also true for us as individuals. We need to make a decision. Either road, most likely, has risks and consequences. Some good and some not so good. That’s where vision can help us. Where are we going long term? What is our vision?

So, what do we mean by vision? According to my 1969 American Heritage Dictionary, they provided five different uses of the word. They are:

1. The faculty of sight
2. Intelligent foresight
3. A mental image produced by the imagination
4. Something perceived through unusual means, as a supernatural sight
5. Something of extraordinary beauty

The one that we are talking about here is number two, “intelligent foresight.” If you are a person who has vision, you have intelligent foresight. Doesn’t that sound good? It means you are thinking ahead and making plans as to where you are going.

The person who does not have vision is like the fool or the simple man that the book of Proverbs talks about. They refuse to look ahead and instead focus on the temporal. That which looks good to them in the moment. You see, if a person does not know where they are going, then any road will take them there. Their life will reflect the choices they made along the way. The probability for making wrong choices goes up significantly. Proverbs 29:18a becomes a reality, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” KJV

Living without vision holds consequences for us as men. The stakes increase when we become fathers as the apostle Peter notes in his first letter, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,” (I Peter 1:18). You and I may have received a good or poor legacy from our own father. But the question for each man is, what road will we take?

Many years ago, friends gave us a plaque, which stated “Lead with Vision.” Underneath the phrase are the words of the verse noted above, Proverbs 29:18. The plaque resides on the wall in our dining room today. A good reminder to me as a man, a husband and a father that vision matters. As a leader, what is your vision?

Unless otherwise noted Scripture taken from the New King James Version^®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

KIRK THOMSEN

"And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19