Last Sunday, I spoke on the book of Jonah. It’s a familiar story, but like some of our favorite movies, it’s worth going back to on a regular basis. One of the primary elements of the story of Jonah is the unwillingness of Jonah to pursue the mission God had given him. Those of us familiar with the story like to throw Jonah under the boat on this one, but most of us are doing the same thing. God calls EVERYONE into mission. But most of us run the other way. There were two reasons that I mentioned that cause us to do so:
- We don’t want what God wants… if anyone has a track record or being right…it’s God…just sayin.
- We are afraid… the “what-ifs” start multiplying rapidly, the excuse of “I can’t” is heard by everyone we know, the fear of failure grips us.
It’s number two that I want to focus on with this article. Most of us feel ill-equipped to do the things God has asked us to do. Honestly, we’re not sure we have what it takes…God must have confused us with someone else. Heck, we’re not even sure that it was God speaking…probably just that burrito from last night, right? But over and over again, the Bible tells us stories of how God brings all the resources to bear to accomplish the task for someone willing to give themselves to the pursuit of his mission.
That’s where this business book review comes in. Tony Morgan is a church leader and strategic thinker I’ve come to admire and respect from a distance. He frequently reviews current business books and shares his review on his blog. The most recent review is of a book titled Ten Steps Ahead. Tony shared a list of his top ten ideas from the book. Here are two that caught my eye:
- “People frequently make better decisions with less information.”
- “Visionaries almost always work at the edge of our understanding, where information is scarce or nonexistent and where intuitive decisions are often the only choice.”
I don’t know about you, but this sounds a lot like “walking by faith” to me. And this is the part that really scares most of us and keeps us from following our divine GPS (God’s Positioning System). We don’t know where we are, we’re not sure of where we’re going, and we don’t have enough information to get there.
So, here’s my question to all of you…. does the idea of being a “VISIONARY” help you sort out the challenges of walking by faith? Does it inspire you to follow Jesus to places you don’t know by thinking of yourself this way? In a way, visionaries are nothing more than people who walk by faith, and not by sight. Does this inspire you to quit running and embrace the mystery of what you cannot see…of what God is calling you to pursue? Does this help you stop running and start pursuing?
Jonah didn’t start as a visionary, but God turned him into one. Whale gastric juices can do that to you. What will it take for you?
Mark Doebler is the church planting pastor of Second Chance Church in Peoria, IL
