One of the buzzwords we often hear in the context of leadership discussions is vision. We want our leaders to have vision, to be able to articulate vision, and to bring other people on board with that vision. But, as with any word that becomes part of our vernacular, with popular usage comes a dilution of meaning. So what exactly do we mean when we say “vision”?

Well, we know we are talking about the future. A person of vision is a person who is future-oriented and spends time thinking about not only what is, but what might be. And we also assume, with the word, that the future is hopeful. Or better. Or more advanced in some way. In fact, it might be so different and fanciful that we can’t really even see how to get there, or even imagine that such a future is possible. But a person with vision can do just that.

Visionaries, then, are people who are somehow able to imagine with clarity what is to come, and are able to marshal the resources to help get there. Steve Jobs was a visionary. So was Henry Ford. So was Martin Luther King, Jr. All these looked forward to what could be and inspired others to see the same.

Vision, in this sense, is a noble thing. A good thing. A wonderful thing, in fact. But I wonder – can we take that same understanding of vision and project it onto our personal lives? Much in the same way that Steve Jobs was somehow able to look down the line of time and see a day when we could have more information available to us in our pockets than all history before us, and do the same thing when it comes to us? Can we envision a future for ourselves when we are working at a certain job or earning a certain amount or have a certain lifestyle and then will it into existence?

Perhaps we can. We can set goals for ourselves and then work incrementally toward them, and this, too, is a good thing. But at least when it comes to our personal lives, we must be very careful not to mix up vision with presumption. We must be so, so careful not to chart out our lives to the extent that we begin asking God to affirm our own plans for our lives rather than submitting our lives to his:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil (James 4:13-16).

This is what James is warning against – a presumptuous kind of life. It’s the kind of life that arrogantly leaves no room for the Lord’s will, but instead goes about making plans with no consideration of how small we are in the grand sovereignty of God.

Now for some of us, that is an anxiety-inducing prospect, because it’s a reminder of just how little control we actually have in our lives. And if you feel that way, then chances are you have spent a lot of time asking – begging – God for a vision of the future.

“Show me with pristine clarity what will come to pass in the next five years!” or something similar, we say. But God does not. He will not. And that is because, at least in part, He desires faith from His people, and faith by its very nature is being certain of what we do not see.

It’s being certain of God’s wisdom in His plan, His love for His children, and His power to carry it out. This is what we have a true vision of – not our circumstances. This is the best kind of vision. The right kind of vision. It’s a vision, growing ever more clearer the longer we walk with Jesus, of the goodness of God. This is the kind of vision that bears more and more faith as we see God continuing to be faithful to His Word.

We can trust Him. And we can trust Him because about Him, we have clarity. Even if about nothing else.