The Importance of Developing A Personal Vision Statement

What Is Your Life Vision?

Knowing this, helps you identify your goal so that you can work toward it. If you do not know what your destination is, you will never get there.

In the Bible, most men and women of God knew their calling. For example, Noah was called by God to build an ark to save his family and the human race.

Here a two select verses about God’s calling for Noah.

Genesis 6:14 – Make yourself an ark.

Genesis 6:22 – Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

Noah had a clear word from the Lord. He knew exactly what God wanted him to spend his life doing. And he knew it was extremely important. Having that calling gave him direction. God’s audible word was a lamp to his feet and a light to his path.

If someone asked Noah, “what is your purpose in life?” he would have answered something like, “my purpose is to build an ark in obedience to God and save my family from judgment.” He knew his life direction and the path in front of him, so all that remained was to stay on that path.

Following are a few sample vision statements:

• Jesus (may have been close to this) – “My vision is to obey the Father’s will by offering my life as a sacrifice to save the lost.” Many tried to distract Him, but Jesus would not be distracted or swayed from his vision.
• Paul – “My vision is to take the gospel to the Gentiles in order to present each person perfect in Christ by making disciples and planting churches.”
• Doctors Without Borders – [our mission] is to provide impartial medical relief to the victims of war, disease, and natural or man-made disaster, without regard to race, religion, or political affiliation.
• Pepsi  – To provide consumers around the world with delicious, affordable, convenient and complementary foods and beverages from wholesome breakfasts to healthy and fun daytime snacks and beverages to evening treats.
• A brother I know – I will endeavor everyday, at every moment to be in the right place at the right time with the right people saying the right things by the grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• A sister I know – I desire to know Christ and to make Him known. Specifically, I feel called to speak out on behalf of life – whether unborn life, marginalized life, or unsaved life; I want to make it known that each life is created in His image and has eternal value because of Him and for His glory.

A good vision statement should be clear and specific. It should give you a target to shoot for. Notably, a vision statement provides direction so that you can know what to spend your time doing and when to say “no.”

When Peter told Jesus that He would not die, Jesus said, “get behind me Satan.” He reacted very strongly because Peter was distracting him from his goal, which was already difficult to persevere in. If people tempted Noah to move to another city or to start another job he would have said, “no.” Those things would distract him from his goal.

My vision statement:

I seek to glorify God by training and mobilizing disciples of Jesus who will make more disciples starting from my family.

I have come to this vision statement over many years. There have been slight tweaks and adjustments along the way. After I had children for example, I knew that my family should feature heavily in my life goal.

It is very helpful to have a clear goal written down to help guide me in how I serve and make decisions. When people ask me to participate in a project or serve I first ask the question, “will this help me accomplish the vision God has given to me?” If the answer is, “no” then I will normally say, “no.”

This vision statement is also why I launched Study and Obey and why I have spent so much time writing Bible studies and e-books. I not only want to disciple more people, but I also want to help you disciple others as well. The main purpose of our Bible Study guides is to help you lead small group discipleship studies through the Bible one chapter at a time.

So do you have a vision which guides your life’s work?

Developing a Vision Statement

Here is a simple test for you.

Would you be able to write down your life vision on paper in the next three minutes?

Every believer should be able to write down his calling from God in clear, simple, and precise language.

If you do not yet have a vision statement, I would encourage you to take the next thirty minutes and prayerfully write down a rough draft of what you believe God is calling you to accomplish for Him in your life.

Here are a few tips as you begin:

• A vision statement should be clear (providing direction)
• A vision statement should be achievable (not something impossible)
• A vision statement should be Christ-centered (Hebrews 12:1-2 – Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus.)
• A vision statement should take into account your own spiritual gifting.

After you finish, I would love to read your vision statement in the comment section below!

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