Best Intentions

We start off each day with the best of intentions. We're going to nail that job interview, pass that test, lose that weight. etc. Then we actually get out of bed and everything changes.

Best intentions are like New Year's resolutions and they usually come with the same results. Failure. So what does it take for us to actually, and finally, make a change in our lives?

Sadly, much needed change often comes with a catastrophic event of some sort. "I am going to change my eating habits for sure this time, " said the overweight man lying in his hospital bed after cardiac surgery.

What about our Christian walk? We say the same things. "I'm going to pray more often than I do." or "I should really go to church today." It's the same thing as the secular world we live in. That shouldn't be us. Something needs to change.

Enter Jesus.

Jesus literally changes our lives. He can change us on the Damascus road or He can change us on the way to the hospital. But He does change us! If you haven't been changed after meeting Jesus, you haven't met Him.

Let's get off our butts today and change something in the "normal" way we operate. BE the change. Make a difference in someone's life today. Don't simply escape the day with best intentions. Do it! Do something! And pray!

Text a friend you haven't heard from in a while. Better yet, pick up the phone and call them. Go to Walmart, buy some blankets and drop them off at a homeless shelter. Buy some extra food and drop it off at your local food pantry. But don't forget to tell them the most important thing.

"These are from Jesus. He prompted me to do this today. Have YOU made Jesus Lord of your life?"

Unless Jesus is part of what we do, we are acting in vain.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Remembering that "God is love," be more than best intentions.

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." - Acts 20:24

Best of Intentions - Travis Tritt

Be Intentional

There is an old saying that says "talk is cheap". What that means is that it's easy to SAY we are going to do something but it's an entirely different thing to actually DO it. An example of this is us Christians telling someone, "I'll pray for you" but then we never actually go through with it. We lie.

I have been guilty of this. I get busy with something else and totally forget to pray. It's not on purpose I just forget about it.And it's not just with prayer either. It's with lots of things. We get distracted and our mind becomes focused on something else

Squirrel!

I went downstairs to get a tool off my workbench the other day and found a glass of milk that I had left there the day before. I had gotten distracted, put down my glass of milk and the rest is history . . . and warm, smelly, chunky history.

Talk is cheap. Except where God is concerned. His "talk" is truth. When God says He is going to do something it is GOING to happen. Lying is not in His nature Neither is becoming distracted. God is focused. God is intentional. So why aren't we? We ARE His followers.

What if we became intentional in our daily activities? Do you think our lives would be more productive? More loving perhaps? I think so.

When my mom died recently the company I used to work for sent me a card. It was signed by the employees, many of whom are very close friends. One particular note caught my eye though. It said, "We love you." That's not a normal thing to say in a work environment yet that person was intentional about giving me the exact thing I needed at that time. Love.

May we face each day from now on with a new intentionality. Living for Christ. Like we mean it! Not only in word but in deed.

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." - Philippians 1:27

Intentional - Travis Greene

Stand Alone

"Tank Man" in Tiananmen Square, China

Have you ever stood up for something, all by yourself? Have you ever risked it all to make a stand for or against something?

Think about it? Have you ever had the guts, determination or been frustrated enough to actually act?

The guy pictured at the left did. In 1989, a column of approaching tanks was on a mission to quell some government protestors in China. He single-handedly stopped an entire group of advancing tanks. To this day, no one knows his name or whether he is alive or dead.

Rosa Parks

Have you ever heard of a lady named Rosa Parks? She was tired of segregated busses and restaurants in the south back in 1956 so she took a stand . . . or rather, she sat down. Blacks were not allowed to ride on busses unless they sat WAY in the back. Rosa didn't like that so . . .

I was listening to a sermon on my way to work Friday and Chuck Swindoll was talking about Esther. She took a stand and risked her life for the sake of her people.

^"12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, ¹³ he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. ¹⁴ For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish."

And then Mordecai delivered this line - a powerful statement in the form of a very pointed question.

"And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Wow.

Appearing before the King without being summoned was an offense punishable by death. Yet Esther was willing to take that chance for the sake of her people.

^"15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” - Esther 4:12-16

Are we willing, are we capable of making such a stand in OUR lives? During the sermon I listened to Pastor Swindoll said this . . .

"Not until you believe that one person can make a difference, will you be willing to stand alone." - Chuck Swindoll

Are we willing? Will we be willing to stand when the time to do so is upon us? We need to have more than just an "opinion" about something. We need to take action. If we perish, we perish.

What is your stand on abortion? Gay marriage? Religious freedom?

Jesus made a stand. He stood for His Father. May we make the same stand in a world where His Father is being  removed from schools and whose followers are being tortured and killed simply for believing in Him. On this Memorial Day weekend, let us pray.

Presidential Proclamation for Memorial Day Prayer
Man vs. Chinese Tank
Esther: For Such A Time As This - John MacArthur