Have you checked your retirement account recently? The stock market has been as such that mine lost money most of this year. That’s not great – but some periods look like losses. I’m not going to stop contributing to it, though: the three- and five-year pictures show a plan that is still solid. I trust that in time the plan will work if I keep working it – a principle that is true for more than just investments.
Christ’s plan was for the Apostle Paul to be “a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15 ESV). When he eventually made his way back to Jerusalem and started preaching, things did not go according to plan (cf. Acts 9:18-30). While he prayed in the temple, Jesus told him through a trance, “Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me” (Acts 22:17-18). He ended up fleeing back to his hometown of Tarsus where he remained for years, a period of Paul’s life we know almost nothing about (cf. Gal. 1:18-24). It looked like a loss.
Then one day almost a decade later, Barnabas – whom Paul had met during that painfully short visit to Jerusalem – came to Tarsus to recruit him for an exciting new outreach to the Gentiles in Antioch (cf. Acts 11:25-26). That launched years of meaningful work, including thousands of miles traveled and countless baptisms. Christ’s vision for Paul became a reality. Do you know how? He kept contributing. As Paul later witnessed – to a king, no less: “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance” (Acts 26:19-20). Even when the vision seemed so far away, Paul kept obeying it. He served and shared Jesus however he could from where he was for as long as he was there. Through that faithful, everyday obedience, God laid a foundation for the great things that followed.
This is our challenge. Things won’t always look the way we imagined. We will suffer loss – often through no fault of our own. Yet, if the vision we are pursuing is Christ’s, we stay obedient to it. From wherever we are, we continue to work His plan. Then one day, His vision will come to pass. He will make things that seemed small at the time matter immensely. He will redeem our lost times so that nothing is wasted. When we remain obedient to the heavenly vision and keep working faithfully for Christ no matter what our situation is, He will provide.
Learn how to know and to go where God is leading you through our series Be Thou My Vision.