“Being Intentional with Your Life”

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

That’s kind of an odd title, isn’t it? I hope it makes more sense as you read through the article.

By being intentional, I simply mean planning your own life and not letting others decide everything for you. I am talking about making your own decisions, based on what you know God wants you to do. Do you live your life that way?

Now, I understand that there are unexpected things that can occur, many of them undesirable and beyond our control. There are illnesses, deaths, problems and trials that no one would personally choose. But even how we react to those sorts of things can be under our control.

When you are younger, you have little control over your own life. Your parents or others who are caring for you make all of your decisions for you. As you grow up, part of the maturing process is learning how to make appropriate decisions for yourself. Part of being a godly parent is training our children to make right decisions.

As an adult, we have much more control over things we do and where we go and who our friends are and what kinds of activities we participate in. We decide what to study in school, where we are going to live, who we will marry and many other important decisions of life. What kind of car will we drive, what kind of job or career will we pursue? There are many examples.

The question is, where does God fit into all of those decisions? What part does our relationship with Him play in the big things we decide about our lives? Do we make intentional decisions about what He would have us to do and then act on those things?

Or are we just existing, taking whatever comes our way and having little or nothing to say about our own future?

As a Christian, a disciple of Christ, do you think about the morality of things you do? Do you “Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)? Do you resist the Devil so he will flee from you (James 4:7)? Do you deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23)?

It doesn’t matter if you call this idea – plans, hopes, dreams, vision, goals. It all amounts to the same thing, controlling your life under the influence of God’s will to really make your life matter. I am talking about being proactive to live your life God’s way, not merely reactive to forces around you that are out of your control.

It is said there are three types of people in the world, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who say, “What happened?” You need to make things happen with your life. Don’t waste your days on the earth. Be a surrendered, faithful, godly servant of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:58).

--Roger Hillis

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