According to His Will
“Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.” Proverbs 29:18 (R.V.)
“There is a difference between an ideal and a vision. An ideal has no moral inspiration; a vision has. The people who give themselves over to ideals rarely do anything.” Oswald Chambers
Once upon a time I had ideals. I was so idealistic that there was no room in my view for anything else.
“ALL women should do this. ALL families should do that. ALL Christians should do this other thing.”
I thought those things over and over and never did anything about my convictions because they were my ideals. It was all me. God had been teaching ME what He wanted ME to do and I projected them onto everyone. I never DID anything about it–other than arguing and discussing.
Ideals are dangerous when we apply them to others. They flavor our relationships and poison our thoughts towards those who behave differently.  I kept asking God for a ministry and that He would teach me how to love others. In the meantime I was criticizing everyone I knew in my heart for not following what I knew God was showing me to do.
I have learned that what He was teaching me was not how He wanted others to live but how He wanted ME to live. (Oops!)  This is what He has planned for myself and my family and what will bring us closest to Him and help us train our kids in the way they should go.
Once I learned to love His people regardless of the circumstances (okay–I still fail but compared to before, my goodness. God is GOOD!) only then could He give me a vision for ministry. I still have plenty of growing to do but now it is time for action. That vision pushes me ahead like no ideal ever could. And as I move forward HE protects me daily from discouragement, often cushioning blows which would knock me down between encouragement so that I can continue to stand, knowing that this IS the vision He gave me and if it is then I can do it–with His help.
How about you? Have you moved beyond your personal ideals into the vision He has called you to? Are you standing strong and holding fast to Him as you proceed?
Lord, I pray for each of these ladies (and men) and ask that You would open their eyes to where their ideals have gotten in the way. Then make the way straight for the vision you have given them. Prepare the way, Lord, and help us to stand strong, knowing that You are God.
Amen, He is God. Thanks for sharing this.
Ideals can be dangerous, and I have to admit that is something the Lord worked on with me. But what freedom once I realized that there is only “one true thing” and the rest can be left up to the Lord.
Blessings.
Awesome word! I have experienced that exactly and through your words, I now see what I was doing. I now understand why I was so frustrated. I took the word God was teaching me and criticized others for not measuring up, the word was for me not them! I see how I have grown out of that phase, mostly, but now I have an understanding of what I was doing. Thanks for sharing. :o)
I do still have ideals. It’s like Proverbs 31 woman if we try to emulate her in our flesh then she is an ideal, but if we allow the Holy Spirit to work on our life then she is a vision of the perfect woman that we can become in Christ (and I think the perfect church).
What I mean to add after my first sentence is that I do want to move away from ‘ideals’.
yes! ideals can be less then ideal….
i can relate to this post on many levels. thank you for sharing!
Ideals are dangerous when we apply them to others….. Oh Amen… That we would only look to the cross.
I loved this post.
I get benefit from your post.
I still slip sometimes — in my head…I mostly have the problem with clothing — silly – eh? But with help, I can get over my personal ideal how Christian women should dress. Thank you for the reminder…
Blessings to you and yours.