Good Intentions
This week has been a busy one for me! Report cards need to get done, a few extra teaching hours, planning for my next few weeks has crept up on me, laundry every day, and I am having a surprise visitor this weekend. (Yes, I know! I found out that my sister is making a surprise visit for my birthday! No one can keep a surprise from me!)
And I had grand intentions of making some great devotionals to post for my new blog. Big plans! I love writing and I thought some short devotionals would be an easy and enriching way to keep up my writing and my walk with my Saviour. But . . . here I am, with no inspiration, no lightning bolts, nothing GREAT to write about.
I came across this verse yesterday in my daily Today devotional reading: “. . .for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purposes” (Philippians 2:13). In my Study Bible, there is a footnote saying that “to will and to act” shows us that our intentions and our obedience cannot be separated. James talks about this further and tells us how Abraham believed in God and also showed it in his actions. Like when he travelled to a new land. And when he was ready to offer his son as a sacrifice. “’And it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.” (James 2: 23b)
I was quite convicted when I read those verses. There have been so many occasions when I meant to do something or wanted to help out, but. . .I never did. Motivation left me, busyness crept up—I may have even talked myself out of doing a good deed! Oh the places I have fallen short. A card never sent, a phone call never made, a meal never passed on, an encouragement never voiced, a prayer never offered.
While I may have had big intentions of using wonderful words, picking effective stories, choosing moving verses, God’s purposes are bigger than all that. So today I chose to act in obedience to that. I don’t have a lot to say—except that I am going to choose to act rather than just thinking about writing something. So while it may not be some grandiose revelation for you, it might be worth a read or worth some reflecting.
Other verses to look up: Genesis 15: 6, Galatians 5:6 and James 2:18-22
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