As Visioneering continued, Pastor Jason shifted the focus from the vision of the church to the vision of our lives. At the start of a new year, when many of us are thinking about goals, change, and direction, Jesus offers something deeper than resolutions. He offers a framework for an ordered life.
When asked which commandment mattered most, Jesus didn’t hesitate. He pointed to love. Not vague love. Ordered love. A love that shapes who we become and where our lives are headed.
Why Vision for Life Matters
Most of us were asked growing up, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
And most of us are not who we imagined we’d be.
Pastor Jason reminded us that who we become is rarely shaped by one decision, but by how the whole of our life is ordered over time. This is what Jesus invites us into. Not just at the beginning of a year, but every day.
Throughout history, cultures have used the new year to reflect, reset, and reorient. But while modern resolutions often focus on self-improvement, Scripture asks a better question:
What does it mean to have a vision for life shaped by faith?
And even more personally:
Does our faith actually define and direct our vision for the future?
Jesus’ answer in Mark 12 gives us that framework.
Vision Starts with a Proper View of God
Mark 12:29
Jesus begins with God before He says anything about us.
“The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
The world tells us to look inward to find direction. Jesus says life begins by knowing God. Without Him at the center, our understanding of ourselves becomes distorted.
Pastor Jason put it plainly:
You can never have an appropriate view of yourself apart from God.
When we try, we are guessing at best and lying at worst.
When Jesus was asked which commandment mattered most, He didn’t invent something new. He pointed back to the Shema from Deuteronomy, grounding vision in the unchanging truth of who God is. Before behavior, plans, or goals are addressed, Jesus establishes this: life finds its direction in God, not ambition.
Or said another way:
Self-knowledge without God-knowledge produces personal ambition dressed in religious language.
Love of God Determines Your Direction
Mark 12:30
Jesus continues: “Love the Lord your God…”
Pastor Jason described much of life as a war of loves. What we love most quietly determines where we end up.
Augustine described this as two loves shaping two lives:
- love of self, even to the neglect of God
- love of God, even to the laying down of self
From this comes a simple truth:
What you love determines the direction you head.
We should never be surprised by where our lives take us. Our destination is shaped by what we give first place.
When something other than God occupies the center of our lives, love becomes disordered. And when love is disordered, life feels chaotic, fragmented, and conflicted. Many of the struggles we experience are not primarily behavior problems, but love-order problems.
Vision Is Lived Through Integrated Love
Mark 12:30
Jesus says we are to love God with:
- all our heart
- all our soul
- all our mind
- all our strength
This is not a checklist. It’s Jesus saying: love God with your whole self.
Pastor Jason pointed out that Jesus intentionally includes the mind. Faith is not anti-thinking. And faith is not meant to be compartmentalized.
Many of us try to follow Jesus in parts:
- heart, but not mind
- soul, but not body
- belief, but not practice
But Jesus offers no category for a divided self. Ancient faith was always meant to be whole-person faith.
Visioneering is not about designing a future and asking God to bless it.
It’s about becoming the kind of person whose whole life naturally bends toward God.
When love is integrated:
- loving God with our heart directs our desires
- loving God with our soul brings unity
- loving God with our mind brings clarity
- loving God with our strength makes faith visible
This is why resolutions alone don’t last. Without whole-self devotion, change fades.
Mark 12:30 is not a command to try harder. It’s an invitation to live fully.
Pastor Jason closed with a sobering reminder:
Many of us are running in directions that loving God first would never lead us.
Reflection Questions
- What currently shapes your vision for life more: faith or culture?
- Where might your loves be out of order, even subtly?
- Are there parts of your life you’ve kept compartmentalized from following Jesus?
- What would it look like for your whole self to be directed toward God this year?
Prayer Prompt
God, help me see my life clearly.
Reorder my loves so that You are first.
Unify my heart, soul, mind, and strength in devotion to You.
Shape my vision not around ambition or fear, but around faithfulness and love.
