Having a fulfilling life requires intentionality …

Like me, you’ve probably known several people who talk about specific intentions they plan to achieve “some day”.

They talk about these intentions day after day, week after week, and year after year … but they never act on their intentions, they only talk about them.

That’s because what they describe as being their “intentions” remain something they are never actually intentional about. What they eventually discover is that most of the things we attain that are most important to us, and most valued by us, are things we’re intentional about.

To be intentional simply means to do something on purpose. It is to be purposeful in word and deed to turn intentions into realities.

If you want to achieve something specific, you must be intentional about it!

And that means in all aspects of life, such as:

SPIRITUALLY.
When it comes to being a follower of Jesus Christ, we must be intentional:

As a disciple. When we are “born again,” we’re born into the kingdom of God and adopted into the family of God, but as a “baby Christian.” The intention is that we grow to spiritual maturity, which the Apostle Paul described like this:

“This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ,” Ephesians 4:13.

The Holy Spirit will certainly do His supernatural work of transforming us into the likeness of Jesus, but we have to cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit, something which must be intentional. When Jesus delivered the Great Commission, He revealed a discipling process that must be intentional:

“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians of how this teaching we receive is mixed with intentionality with the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit:

“But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy,” Ephesians 4:20-24.

If you think you can sit on your couch and just become a mature Christian by the passing of years, you’re fooling yourself. The writer of the book of Hebrews was frustrated by some Christians who failed to show progress in their spiritual formation because they weren’t intentional about it:

“There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong,” Hebrews 5:11-14.

The Apostle Peter wrote “… you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ …” (2 Pet. 3:18) and Paul would describe the intentionality Christians need for their spiritual growth like this:

“Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come,” 1 Timothy 4:7-8.

As disciple-makers. All who are “born again” into the kingdom of God, and adopted into the family of God, are also appointed by God to be ambassadors for Christ who make new disciples:

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!'” 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.

You cannot represent Christ as His ambassador, engaging the world to make new disciples, without intentionality. That’s a fact that pastor Jason Leight describes like this:

My buddy, Woody, and I used to fish. One summer in high school we fished almost everyday for two months. During that summer we learned something, there was this rock in one corner of the lake and, if you were able to cast underneath it, you could catch a fish almost every time. It was almost too easy. As easy as it was, the fish didn’t just jump into our boat. We had to make the attempt to catch them.

Evangelism is like fishing, to catch fish we must intentionally fish for them … they’re not going to just jump in our boat. We must make up our minds that we are going to intentionally share Christ with someone.

PERSONALLY.
You might say you want to be fit and healthy, but live off a junk food diet and generally refuse to do any exercise on purpose. That’s NOT being intentional about your fitness or health, and eventually your choice of not being intentional regarding your fitness and health will yield its results.

The same is true for our mental health and emotional health. If we want to attain something for our mental, emotional, and physical well being, we’ll have to be intentional about it. You may be blessed to start your life healthy, but to stay healthy requires intentionality.

RELATIONALLY.
One of the single greatest reasons why relationships fail is because we fail to nurture them. That’s means we lack intentionality. If you think you can woo your sweetheart to the alter, get an “I do,” and then have decades of marital bliss without being intentional in making that happen, you’ll be sadly mistaken … and likely divorced!

Even family relationships, friendships, acquaintances we want to foster — ALL of our relationships require some level of intentionality to keep them properly nurtured and healthy.

PROFESSIONALLY.
Most of us start our professional life with enough intentionality to drive us to college, trade schools, or some way we can equip ourselves to get the jobs we want or need and be successful at them. But once you land that job, you’ll have to be intentional about your work in order to keep it, and flourish in it. If not, you might find yourself out of work and forced to be intentional about finding a new employer!

Sometimes, a root source of what is making us unhappy about something in life is that we’re failing to be intentional in something that won’t be realized or achieved without intentionality on our part.

What are your intentions? What are your plans to actually turn those intentions into reality? How can you have greater fullness of life by consciously becoming a more intentional person?

Scotty