May 26, 2020
“Good Intentions”
“If anyone, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” James 4:17
It happened a long time ago. I had finished preaching and we had just concluded the invitation hymn. I called on someone to pray the benediction and I walked to the back vestibule of the church to speak to everyone when they left. As I opened up the door, a friend of mine whom I recently met and his lady friend were approaching the front door.
“Hello, David, what are you doing outside so early?”
“Early,” I said, “It is not early. We are just finishing up.”
“Did y’all have an early service today? My watch says 11 am.”
“No, I think you forgot to change your clock last night. Today begins daylight savings time. It is noon, not eleven.”
I wish you could have seen the startled look they gave me and each other. Quickly they turned on their heels and headed back to the car. As they got closer to the car my friend turned towards me and said, “Don’t let them out yet. Let us get away. I don’t want anyone to know we made such a dumb mistake.” They exited the parking lot before the benediction was finished.
My friend had good intentions. He was coming to church, but he had failed to follow all the right instructions. It has caused me to wonder how many of us have good intentions, but fail to follow all the instructions of God’s word. We are really good at fashioning our wants into things that God approves. We give ourselves reason why God will understand if we don’t follow His advice completely. We end up being late and trying to hide our mistake from anyone that it might matter. That is anyone but God.
An old preacher once said, “Hell will be full of people with good intentions.” God calls us to follow His law and live righteous lives. Our righteousness doesn’t say anything about us, but everything about God. It shows that we live righteously because of what God in Christ has done for us. We do not live always to please ourselves, but to please God. And the more we become like Him the more pleased we are with ourselves.
Don’t allow good intentions to get you to the place where you are always wishing you were doing more, wish you were growing in Christ more, wishing you just lived for Jesus more. Start making plans today to find an area in your life that you know doesn’t reflect Jesus and start changing. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can grow to be more like Jesus and live righteously. Then our good intentions will be Godly motives.
Dear Jesus, help us to put aside our desires and to yearn for Your desires. Help us to strive every day to become more like you. Help us to seek to do what is right not by our standards or the worlds standards, but by Your standards. Even when we have good intentions do not let us hid our mistakes, but help us to confess them so that you can cleanse us and right our ship. Thank you Jesus for caring about each and every one of our lives. In Your name we pray, Amen.