What Are Your Intentions
Jesus said:"this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” You will find these words in John 15, and Jesus goes on:
"My Father has been glorified in your bearing much fruit and becoming my disciples". If we are, in fact, true disciples of Jesus and living fruit-bearers of Jesus’ love, it is because we have learned the great secret of the Christian life: to praise God and thank God in everything!
It has been said that love is a basket with five loaves and two fishes: it's never enough until you start to give it away. Someone has written the fable of "The Old Man" in which a small boy, with arms full of books, is walking past a park. He sees an older man sitting on a cold bench, huddling under a thin coat. "How difficult it must be," the boy thought," to be old and sitting on a cold bench on a windy day like today." Then he turned to get a better look at the older man with the unshaven face and the battered cap. The old man saw him and, lifting his head, asked, "Yes?" The small boy stammered, "I just thought ... I wondered ... I mean, do you need ... you look so ... I just thought ... might I ... can I help you?" the older man smiled a warm and friendly smile -- a loving smile. “You already have," he said.
The young boy had good intentions. He just wasn’t sure how to go about helping the old man. May I offer a suggestion? We all have good intentions toward one another. We intend to forgive; we intend to forget, we intend to reconcile, we intend to communicate, we intend to donate, we intend to serve, we intend to commiserate, we intend to empathize, we intend to visit, we intend to support, we intend to help, we intend ... we intend ... we intend. This week let's forget all those good intentions, except one. And then just do it!
When asked how he defined success, Ralph Waldo Emerson said: Success was to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. Yes, that is success.
I think it all comes down to this: God measures human success according to the level of our obedience to His great commandment of love. I feel God identifies human success with our willingness to carry out the simple ministry of helping others, caring for others, sharing with others. Jesus did not say that this is the whole of Christian life. He said that this is where it develops. This is the fruit of all the effort, the fruit of all the worship, the fruit of all the Bible study
Don't just talk about it! Forget your good intentions! All the talk and good intentions in the world are of no account if you're not willing to get on with it. Do it! "Do God's Will as I have revealed it to you," Jesus said. But he doesn't leave you hanging there. He continues to give you help. He holds before you the joy of obedience. He promises you that if you follow Him, you will experience the wholeness of life. You will become the tree that bears rich fruit – rich in abundance. Jesus is telling us that obedience to God's Will -- doing what the Lord commands -- is the only way to succeed in life.