Great Intentions

I recently had breakfast with one of my good friends, Dave Jenkins, and we were talking about the show “The Biggest Loser” and how so many people buy fitness equipment and then never use it. He shared this quote with me: ”The world has all these great intentions. Too bad most end up in the basement unused.” How true. Even in my own life, I’ve started to workout, lose weight and get back in shape many times only to stop way to soon. All those efforts fall into the “great intentions” pile.

In 1 Timothy, Paul urges Timothy (who might have been a good athlete) to teach others to focus on spiritual training because it will reap more benefits than physical training in the end of this life and in the life to come. Many young believers start out on fire and growing in the ways of Christ, but as each day passes, like our physical training routines, we get lazy and complacent and stray from our initial desire to get one day better. In this case, to get one day better in Him and closer to Him.

Since our physical life is paralleled by our spiritual life, it begs the question of where we should turn. How many times do we start to read our Bible daily, do our devotions, pray with our families, pray with our spouses, etc., but we fall short and are left with nothing more than great intentions?

What do you want to do about all these great intentions? I know what my desire is: to turn them into great accomplishments for God’s glory. Undone intentions really don’t mean a thing and will not get you where you want to go in life. Start today to turn these intentions into action plans that, with accountability, will become a part of your regular day-to-day life. You can do it, and you can honor God in the process!