FOOD FOR YOUR JOURNEY

19 November

RESTRAINT

Where there is no revelation or vision, the people cast off restraint.

Proverbs 29:18 (NKJV)

There is a huge difference between an ideal and a vision. An ideal has no moral inspiration. A vision does, because it has a sense of morality, righteousness and goodness in it. With vision comes a life of decency and integrity. An ideal or idealism is the forming or pursuing of ideas or ideals and is a philosophy in which external perceptions are held together and consist of ideas. The acid test to find out if you have ideals or vision is to weigh both up in the light of Scripture.

Do we have an ideal of God or do we have a vision of God? If the latter, where did that vision of God come from? If from any other place than His Holy Word, then it is fanciful and only in the imagination. Man’s ideal of God consists of someone, up there who winks at sin and does not really care much about us mortals down here on earth, which, if the truth be known, is so far removed from what the Scriptures tell us because he does not want to be answerable to or ruled by the One who went to the Cross.

Our verse today describes mankind and his desperate attempt to cast off the vision of God and replace it with an ideal that consists of living without any reference to His commandments, because where there is no vision, we lose sight of God and live as we please. We cast off the restraint there is on us to please our Saviour and to live a life that is Holy and righteous and replace it with one that ignores Him, and we wonder why the world is in such a mess.

Is our attitude to life an attitude which comes from our vision of God or does it come from ideals formulated by man?

Are we living a life that is fresh and exciting in which we give thanks for our Saviour everyday and in which we are expecting God to do greater things in our lives?

I know where my choice lies!