"Without a vision the people perish." (Proverbs 29:18 KJV).

One translation reads: "Without a vision, people go to pieces."

The Apostle Paul confessed to King Agrippa that he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). Once he understood who Christ was and who he was in Christ, he was never the same. Paul set out to make Christ known and never turned back.

A Heavenly Vision is one that reflects Divine Viewpoint. We need to look at our lives and purposes from God's point of view. In a flash of light, Paul discovered who Jesus really was. That fresh understanding would forever change the way he viewed himself and his life goals.

Vision is the quality of being able to focus on what God would have you accomplish. It has been said that "a vision without a task is a dream; a task without a dream is drudgery, but a vision with a task is direction for the future."

That direction can be broken down to specific goals. One danger is that many people lose balance with their vision. They become myopic and are only able to focus on one aspect of their vision. Our success-driven society demonstrates the danger of sacrificing health, family or sanity in pursuit of what they consider worthy goals. People neglect the 'whole counsel of God'. To focus, for example, on church leadership and neglect leadership in the home is practical heresy according to God's word. To obsessively steward your God-given talents but to fail to take care of the physical body God gave you is a tragic mistake. To exercise and nurture your physical body and fail to exercise your spirit can be a fatal mistake.

Once we come to see who Christ is and who we are in Christ, our understanding of our roles and goals develops. To have goals unrelated to our roles in life leads us to ineffectiveness and poor stewardship of the opportunities, talents, relationships and responsibilities God has given us.

Management expert, Peter Drucker says: "Efficiency is doing things well. Effectiveness is doing the right things well." Understanding our roles as a pre-requisite to determining our goals ensures that we will be doing the right things.

For example: You can define your God given roles as: A Worshiper and Disciple; A Spouse; A Parent; A Communicator; An Engineer; A Musician; A Community Leader; a person with a spiritual gift, such as the gift of hospitality;

For each of these roles you can prayerfully establish SMART goals. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Trackable). Goals prod us towards our vision. They are dreams with a deadline.

What goals do you have as a worshiper/disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ today? What goals do you have as a friend in that relationship He has entrusted you with? What goals do you have as a spouse? a parent? an employee? as one who has the gift of teaching? showing mercy? or helping to make ministry happen?

In the Refiner's fire,