Our Vision Is Jesus

What does it mean when we say our vision is Jesus? He is everything to us. We exist for Him, and we want the life we build together to reflect who He is and what He desires. We want to know Him, become like Him, and follow wherever He leads.

There is so much we could give our attention to. The needs around us are real, and there is work the Lord has called us to do. Yet when Jesus entered Martha’s home, He affirmed the woman who sat at His feet and listened to Him. Martha was occupied with serving, troubled by everything that needed to be done. Mary had given her attention to Jesus. He said that one thing was necessary and that Mary had chosen the good portion (Luke 10:38–42).

I want us to remember that as we grow. We can have responsibilities and still recognize that the most valuable thing available to us is fellowship with the One who has drawn us near.

He is worthy of our attention. We get to be with Him.

I remember a time when I was so caught up in the busyness of ministry that my reason for coming to the Lord had begun to change. I was looking for ministry fuel. My time with Him was becoming focused on receiving something I could give to someone else, and it had started to feel like a burden.

The Lord exposed what was happening in my heart. He said to me, “I don’t want you coming to Me for what you can give others. That will be the overflow of a life lived in surrendered intimacy with Me. Never come to Me to get material for a sermon or fuel for the anointing. Come to Me to be with Me, and you will never lack in ministry.”

He wanted me to come to Him to be with Him. I had allowed the needs of ministry to shape my approach to the very fellowship that was meant to sustain my life.

That word reaches into how we build Four Winds. We want to enjoy Jesus and give Him our love. There is room to sit with Him without turning the time into preparation for our next responsibility. He longs for friends He can share His heart and His secrets with. Some things He shares are meant to be treasured between us. We don’t have to make them public. Part of growing in friendship with Him is learning what He wants us to share and what He has entrusted to us to keep.

Our time with Him has value before we have anything to give.

Mark 3:14 tells us that Jesus appointed the twelve to be with Him and that He might send them out to preach. Being with Him came first. Before they went into villages carrying His message and ministering in His authority, He called them into life with Himself.

They walked with Him. They asked questions and received correction. They watched Him respond to people and began to learn what mattered to Him. Think about what it would have been like to see Jesus stop for someone everyone else was trying to quiet, or to watch Him take a towel and wash your feet.

He was showing them the life they were called to carry.

Jesus is heaven’s blueprint. When we look at Him, we see the Father revealed. His life gives shape to what we build. We learn how to lead by watching Him serve. His compassion teaches us to pay attention to people. His obedience shows us what surrender to the Father looks like.

And He continues to lead His church. We can listen to Him and follow His direction through the Holy Spirit. Our plans need to remain yielded. When He corrects us, we respond. When He gives us direction, we make room to obey, even when it requires changing something we had already decided.

If our vision is Jesus, He gets to determine what we build.

Colossians 1:16–18 tells us that all things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church, and He is to have first place in everything.

The church exists for Him.

We belong to Jesus. He loved us and gave Himself for us. Our gatherings, our gifts, and the work entrusted to us all find their purpose in Him. I want us to care about what pleases Him and to become familiar with what is on His heart. As we make decisions, we should be asking what He desires of us.

Paul writes that Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which we build (1 Corinthians 3:11). Jesus also describes Himself as the vine and us as the branches. As we abide in Him, we bear fruit. Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:4–5).

He is both our foundation and our continuing source of life.

When I say Jesus is the very substance we build with, I mean that we depend on His life at work in us. We need His wisdom to guide us and His love to shape how we treat people. The Holy Spirit supplies what our ability alone cannot produce. We remain dependent on Him through every stage of the work.

That dependence reaches into our relationships. As we behold the Lord, the Spirit transforms us into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18). We begin to see where our responses need to change. His forgiveness works its way into how we respond to someone who has hurt us. His patience affects the way we walk alongside a person who is still learning.

I want my wife to receive the fruit of my fellowship with Jesus in the way I love her. I want the people around me to encounter His heart through my life. What happens at His feet should reach the people we live with.

This is the kind of community we want to become. We want to know Him together and help one another follow Him. When someone is hurting, we make room to care. When someone has a question, we take time to listen and open Scripture with them. We can grow in the gifts of the Spirit while learning to minister with the tenderness of Jesus.

We pray for the sick because we believe He heals and because we love the person in front of us. We welcome the gifts He gives and want to be faithful with them. Everything He entrusts to us is an opportunity to serve someone He loves.

Our full vision statement says, “Our vision is Jesus. Our calling is to be a community of revivalists who demonstrate His love and power to the world.”

That calling flows from our life with Him. Our desire for revival is a desire to see people awakened to Jesus, brought into fellowship with God, and transformed by His Presence. We long to see His Kingdom come and His will be done in our homes, communities, and nations. We want people to know the One who has given us life.

There is much to give ourselves to, and I want us to follow Him wholeheartedly. But we must carry His invitation with us through it all: come to Me to be with Me.

We will always need Him. However much the work grows, there will always be a place for us at His feet.

Our vision is Jesus. May He find His home among a people who love Him, delight in His Presence, and give Him freedom to lead.