Headed to the Super Bowl

I was laying in bed last night after reading in Luke. And I read in Luke where Jesus tells his disciples that if they truly want to follow Him, they must hate their brothers, sisters, mom, dad, and even their own self..and unless they do that, they cannot be His disciple. And laying there I thought how difficult this statement is to live out. I mean, seriously, this is a really challenging set of verses. Now for me, looking back 2000 years to when Jesus said this.. its still a strong statement. Jesus calling His own disciples to pick up their cross daily and follow Him. My High School Bible teacher said "it'd be like Jesus saying to you, pick up your electric chair, lethal injection, noose, or guillotine and follow me!" Can you imagine a king, queen, or president saying that to their country? Imagine then how the disciples reacted when He told them the cost of following Him.

What God convicted me of though is how I count my intentions (while they might be good ones) as actual devotion to Him. Think of it this way, each year around the first week of September, 32 NFL Football teams start out with one goal. Win the Super Bowl. They've trained, they've prepared as best they know how, but...the interesting thing is, only 1 team stands come February as the World Champion. When the other 31 teams sit down to do their evaluations of their seasons and decide what went wrong, I can guarantee you that not one coach says, "Well, we intended to win, so we didn't do a bad job! We wanted it, and its the thought that counts! Let's just go home now." Ha-ha, can you say fail? Teams that don't evaluate why they fell short of their goal need to retool, maybe re-strategize their offseason workouts, or focus on defense more? (Ahem, TB Bucs)

Seems a bit ridiculous right? Since when do good intentions count for anything? See, as a human, looking out at other humans, I label people by what I see them do. I see a man kill someone, I label him as a murderer. But that man may sit in the room with a detective and say "I never meant for anything bad to happen! I didn't mean to kill that person!". And ya know? That murderer probably feels less responsible because, after all, he didn't intend for it to happen. What I was really convicted of was the fact that I do this. I label other people by what they DO, and I label myself by what I INTEND to do.

Exampe: I see a lonely guy in a bookstore, I feel like I should go share the gospel with him (good intention!) but then I walk over to another section hoping he'll leave by the time I muster enough man-courage to go back there and say something. (Failure to fulfill a good intention) But the funny thing is, when the Holy Spirit confronts me about it, I come back with..."Ah God, ya know? I really meant to go over there and say something to him, but he left before I could." Then I walk away actually feeling like a devoted Christian because my intentions are good?! (Bleh.)

As Christians, we can't label ourselves by our intentions. We've become pro's at masking our fear, embaressment, laziness, and pride all under the good intentions blanket, and I can't believe that God would be impressed in simply having good intentions. What God really wants from us is devotion. After all, look at what He gave on the cross! Paul describes himself as a slave to Christ. As a Christian, essentially you're telling God that because of what He's done for you, the greatest response you can have to the cross is to give your entire being to Him, to His service. We've got to fulfill the good intentions placed in us by the Holy Spirit! Intending on going to church isn't equal with actually going there. Intending on witnessing isn't witnessing. Planning on tithing isn't actually tithing. God calls us to die to self daily, He desires action. Jesus says, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments!" Intending on keeping them isn't the same thing. The Apostle John says the following in I John...

'' Little children, we must stop expressing love merely by our words and manner of speech; we must love also in action and in truth.''

Good intentions never win a Super Bowl.