2020 Vision

By John Houston

06/25/20

I have heard many say the year 2020 is about VISION.  When I hear that, I have a stirring in my gut asking me a question… Does that mean vision for future direction? In many aspects I believe it does, but I also believe the Lord is saying it is more than that. It’s also about vision for the here and now. For me, 2020 is a year to bring clarity around the true condition of my own heart, my marriage, my family, my community, and my nation.

I remember another time in my life I was challenged by God to gain more clarity and vision concerning the condition of my heart. It was about 7 years ago, and I was going through the book of Romans (particularly chapters 2-12). God showed me through those chapters that I was leading by law, not by love. Honestly, that thought really ticked me off and I thought to myself, “That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard!”  Then it hit me, I just directed that towards God… oops! I began to seek the Lord and cry out to him to reveal the true state of my heart. I became convicted and could see where I was leading by law not by love. I really began to understand that without love, it is all meaningless. The law is in place for us to recognize our sin. The Lord began to show me, that although I loved him in many ways, I was a condemning and manipulating husband, father and leader. As you can imagine, I didn’t feel so great after that!

After I embraced what the Lord was telling me, I began asking Him how to change.  He said, “First you must come to me to seek forgiveness and be redeemed by my love, then I can reconcile you to me and bring restoration.”  I walked through that process with him for a few years. Sure enough, He brought redemption, reconciliation and restoration to me, my marriage, may family, our businesses and more. I am not saying I am perfect; there is still work to be done.  But the work of redemption, reconciliation, and restoration had to start with me seeing my own issues that were deep in my heart with clarity; with 2020 vision.

So, I wonder if 2020 is a year of clarity for each of us that starts with a deep search in our hearts to see what the Lord wants to reveal. The Lord reveals things in order to allow us to see the truth, to deal with it and began healing.  He can work best with a heart that is open and humble. We need to remember that we are all broken and in need of redemption, reconciliation and restoration.

I feel God taking me on a new journey of clarity this year, much like He did 7 years ago. This time, I’m opening my eyes to see and my ears to hear from others in my life more than I have before.  I want to hear about their experiences, feelings, emotions, wisdom and learn and grow in relationship with them. I was processing the racism and injustice in these unprecedented times with one of my long-time friends last weekend. She was telling me a story about her contact lenses.  She told me she had just gotten a year supply of new contacts.  She put in her first pair and allowed a lot of time to pass before throwing them out and moving to the next pair. She said her eyesight began to decline daily. Each day things were getting less clear and more foggy. She was considering going to the doctor because she was getting concerned, and decided to bring it up to her husband to see what he thought. He asked her, “Have you tried a new pair – you know you have a year supply?” She responded, “No.” He said, “Well, try it.” She began to laugh as she told me that she put the new pair in and could see perfectly. It hit me as she was talking –maybe our hearts, minds, attitudes are looking through an old, cloudy lens.  We may need to go to the Lord and ask him to give us new contacts, or a new perspective. We might need His perspective.

In this season, the Lord has challenged me to reach out to my friends, particularly my black friends, and others in my community and law enforcement to gain a new, fresh perspective. At the same time, I’ve been challenged to ask the Lord to reveal the state of my own heart and allow him to change my heart to be more like His in every area of my life.

The process of gaining more clarity or vision is not always comfortable. But when we have the clarity of perspective and thought that comes from the Lord, we can lead