Death By Comparison
Habakkuk 2:2b (ESV)
Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it
In this well-known verse, the word vision has more to it than meets the eye. It means a divine revelation or a prophetic vision. The verse that follows (verse 3) also makes it clear that this is a vision of the future. I believe that this concept of prophetic vision holds some insight that is very relevant to our personal growth as well as our maturation as the Body of Christ.
I have observed several instances in various situations in family, work, or church where it seemed that people just refused to grow past their current state. There seemed to be no lack of reasons why they saw no need to journey any further in their personal growth. It always pains me when it happens. I can’t understand why someone would refuse to even explore the possibility that there is room for growth. As I talked to God about this recently, He showed me that the issue is perception.
God showed me the Israelites leaving Egypt and heading to the promised land as an example. As the Israelites journeyed with God in the wilderness, He began the process of maturing them from slaves in Egypt to people who would become a mighty nation and rule Canaan. It was sometimes a painful process as all growth involves change and change is painful. At one point in the journey, the Israelites began to complain, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” The Israelites fell into the deception of comparison. When we cannot envision the future that God has for us, we cannot ‘run’ to attain it. As the popular saying goes, the body cannot go, where the mind has not gone.
Hosea 4:6 says that the people perish for a lack of knowledge. Where there is no vision of God’s dream for our lives, then progress can only be measured by comparison with our past selves or with the people around us. Therefore, we settle for much less than God’s will for our lives, we stop growing and we will ultimately die. This death by comparison manifests itself in mindsets like, “I have achieved enough. I’m comfortable. Why rock the boat?” or, “That’s just how God made me.” Sometimes the mindset that keeps us in stagnation can sound very biblical, “I am a new creature in Christ by faith. There is nothing more that I have to do Christ has done it all.” or, “When Christ is ready, He is well able to change me.” There is always some truth to a deception, it is just not the full truth. Our spirit is completely new (we have been saved) but our soul (will, mind, and emotions) is being transformed (being saved) and our body will be made new when Christ returns. The process of transformation of our souls is not without our willing effort although the power to change does indeed come from Christ by the Spirit.
I wish to propose that there is much work to be done and it will continue until we attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Jesus is the only measure. Our leaders are not the measure, how far we have come is not the measure, and our friends are not the measure. We are yet to see the Bride come into her fullness of love, peace, righteousness, joy, authority, and dazzling beauty. I am fully convinced that there is a deep wholeness, unity, abundance of life, and hosting of the Spirit that we are yet to even scratch the surface of as a church, but unless each of us is individually consumed by a personal vision of who God created us to be, we will not attain this corporate reality. To be gripped by a vision it must be personal. Even the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ is too general; we must receive a personal revelation from the Spirit of God of our unique identity and calling. As I heard Dano McCollam say recently, “The bible gives us our last name – what everyone in the family is like. We are all more than conquerors, for example. But the prophetic gives us our first name – our unique identity as a daughter or son in the family.”
So my prayer today for myself, my wife, my children, my family, my friends, and all my brothers and sisters is that our hearts and minds would be open to receive God’s personal vision for our lives. And that the sight of that vision would birth in us a hunger for more and determination to pursue God’s perfect will for our lives like never before. I declare that every limit to our growth will be broken! Be it our physical comfort zones, our theological comfort zones, our social comfort zones, our denominational comfort zones, or the limits we have accepted due to our gender, our age, our past, our education, or our genetic makeup; we will break out of every construct and narrative that limits God’s vision for us!
