Friday, January 19, 2018

Where Do My Intentions Lead me?

Five minute Friday where the prompt is "intentional"


My mother used to say “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. Somehow clichés (and everything your mother ever said) digs deep inlays in your consciousness and you keep falling into them like potholes,  leaving your thinking a little disjointed in need of repair. This word,  intention,  falls hard on me. When hearing it I feel the guilt rising up of all the things I intended to do that never got done. Along with it comes self justification or blame.

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary,  they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets up against the knowledge of God,  and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience,  once your obedience is complete”. 2 Cor 10:4

These “potholes” are certainly strongholds that pull our minds into a way of thinking and fighting battles that are wordly. Our intentions should be to blast our own arguments and pretensions,  a claim to our own knowledge being above God's. Not to say things are okay,  but to acknowledge God's weapons of warfare that disseminate and diminish any trace of our own. In that,  my intention takes on a different meaning,  of not being a distant hope or aim,  but a deliberate undertaking of steps to reach my desired end.

And yes,  that cliché has a truth in it,  but only in the context of not receiving Christ as a personal Lord and Savior of your life. If you have that intention, but never solidify it in your heart,  then you should consider it both carefully and prayerfully.

9 comments:

  1. Excellent words Mary! The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but the road to heaven is paved with God's grace in the form of the only begotten Son! I'm your neighbor today at FMF

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  2. You nailed this Mary! That same saying crept into my mind, but then Jesus. Thank you for speaking truth. In Christ, Julie

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  3. Well said, Mary. Not up to adding more, but enjoyed this thoughtful essay.

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  4. Love how you used cliches to lead the reader two Christ...

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading and commenting. My mother used all the cliches. I try not to!

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