#12 The Girl With Good Intentions
It’s like when you’re revising for exams, or at least supposed to be. But before you start, you decide to make a revision timetable. You know the one? Colour co-ordinated depending on subjects, timed to perfection. Now let’s face it, if you actually did as much revision as your new timetable suggests, you’d literally be getting A*’s left, right and centre. So why, for most of us, does it not work like that? The timetable’s in place, it’s even stuck to your wall now actually. The books are in place, piled up on your desk, (alphabetically of course). So you sit down to work… but you better check Facebook first, and while you’re there, it makes sense to have a quick look at Twitter. Actually, you haven’t checked your emails for about an hour. You should probably do that quickly…
Hold on! You only gave Facebook a quick check, so how has an hour and twenty minutes gone that quickly? And now it’s dinner time which means that your blue square on your brand new timetable has well and truly been missed out. But it’s fine. There’s always tomorrow, right?…
I think that sometimes, as Christians, we slip into this ‘timetable trap’. Planning and preparation are vital, don’t get me wrong, but what are we planning for if these good intentions remain A4 sized? Isaiah 52:7 says:
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns”.”
I love reading about His perfect peace, the incredible good news He brings.
But I want to walk in it more.
Yes, I want to plan and prepare and more importantly, I want to pray. We must pray. But then I want to run with it, proclaim it! Letting people see the God I serve through my actions. This God who beat death, who conquered the grave and who saved my life. This is not news that was intended to be hidden in journals, at least only there. My journals are filled with dreams, visions, plans, hopes and declarations of faith. I’m sure that God’s put half of them there to be lived out. Jesus didn’t just have God-glorifying intentions, He took God-glorifying action. Even to the point of death. I’m called to be Christ-like. I’m called to live like this is true. We must go!
The girl with good intentions,
the one who filled the pews,
she chose not to declare it,
though she often heard the news.
Her heart so wanted Jesus,
something about Him did attract,
she said she’d share her story,
she even made a pact.
But something else came up,
a hurdle in the way,
and so though she’d promised Jesus,
she’d follow through another day.
See, with God it’s not like that,
He SO wants us to move,
He wants this girl to stand up,
her faith to grow, improve!
You see, it’s just like maths,
don’t just talk about the fraction,
yes, put in the work,
but understanding’s seen in the action.
The girl with good intentions,
the one who filled the pews,
but then she started running,
readiness in her shoes.