Happy New Year from Budapest!
During our break I spent time with some families here, helped a couple move, and built a desk for a former student. On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve I was with the Korean church. New Year’s Day we got together for a service in the morning and had a lunch together. This is a bowl of soup that we ate. I couldn’t finish it, it was so filling. The white stuff is like giant rice noodles.
Personal and Corporate Vision
A teacher told me that she realized over the break how important the Body life is, and how without it you kind of just drift off into your own little world. It is so true. I like to think about the verse, “Without a vision, the people perish,” from Proverbs 29:18. It is not just a corporate vision, but also a personal one; however, the two are inseparable. Without the Body, I won’t be able to have a personal vision and without a personal vision, I can’t operate in a corporate vision. God truly designed us to be together.
Viewpoint
I find that when I am alone my viewpoint can become twisted. I start to think only about myself and I can even start to have a negative outlook about people or things happening in God’s work. I start to look inward and forget who I am in relationship to God and His people. When I am where I am supposed to be, in the Body, in my call, that’s the place where I find that my viewpoint becomes outward and my personal vision extends to and connects with the corporate vision.
Look at the Right Direction
In fact, doesn’t Psalm 73 say just that? Before the Psalmist went to church he was jealous of the wicked, he saw that they had everything his flesh wanted, and they didn’t have any problem using other people to obtain all they could from life. He lost the corporate vision because his personal vision was inward. Once he went to church, however, that personal vision became rightly related to God and his corporate vision was restored because he could see the end result. That didn’t come from looking inward but outward.
Get to Where You Need to Be
I have been thinking about this more and more and it’s really remarkable. Please don’t stop being around God’s people. Get to a place where there is a corporate vision and where your personal vision is encouraged and cultivated. That’s where we see the result of our walk of faith and that’s what encourages us to keep going.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for the second half of this school year that will quickly come and go. Pray for my students to have an outward vision, and pray that we encourage each other to keep going to that place where the corporate vision is manifested. – Jon Cook
