Do not Shrink

I heard Dr. Johnny Hunt at a conference a couple months ago say that many people "want the fruit of Paul's ministry without having to undergo the suffering of Paul's journeys." I'm always so encouraged and humbled when I read about the life of Paul. His obedience was so obvious. His passion was undeniable. He was, (you guessed it!) INTENTIONAL. Recently, the Lord laid on my heart a new life verse. I read it a few weeks ago and I just haven't been able to shake it out of my heart. It comes from Acts 20:26-27...

²⁶ "I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it’s not my fault,²⁷ for I didn’t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know."

I was completely stunned by Paul's straight forwardness in this verse. He was so confident that He was walking in complete obedience of God's will for His life that he could utter the words that He had proclaimed everything that God wanted the people of Ephesus to know. Paul knew that the blood of those whom suffered eternal death would not be on his hands. Just a few verses before in Acts 20:24 Paul exclaims that he consider his life nothing unless he used it for God's work. So often I'm guilty of considering what I get out of doing God's work more important than what I put in to God's work.

It is my prayer that sharing the message of salvation will be so important to me that I will never miss an opportunity to share it. I think a lot of times as Christians we pray "God, give me opportunities to share" when really we should be praying "God, make me AWARE of the opportunities you give me". Just like Paul, we all have opportunities to share God's love and the message of salvation all the time. Whether it be through our testimony, the way we live, or straight up sharing the gospel, too often we overlook these God-given tasks.

One day, I want to serve a person or group of people in a way that I can proclaim the same thing Paul did. I pray that I will be able to say that I have been faithful and I never shrunk from telling them everything God wanted them to know.

⁷ "I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. ⁸ Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ ⁹ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, ¹¹ so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!" (Philippians 3:7-13)

Intentional... or am I?

I'm really excited about starting this new blog. I hope that as you read what God is teaching me, both through his Word and through the opportunities that He has graciously given me, you will be inspired to seek Him more. Some of these ramblings may not make sense because many of them will come straight from my heart, but it is my prayer that they will only draw you closer to Him and may bring you to examine your own relationship with the one, true God. So here we go... (Be ready, you are about to read the word "intentional" 16 times)


I've been thinking a lot lately about living an intentional life. So what does it mean to be intentional? Intentional is to be mentally determined to carry out some action or purpose. So what am I intentional about? Wow... lots of things. For example, I'm intentional about making good grades. I'm intentional about keeping in touch with some old friends. I'm intentional about hanging out with my friends. I'm intentional about loving my family. I'm intentional about making time to watch Lost and Sportscenter. I'm intentional about those things on a pretty consistent basis. It became obvious that the things that I'm consistently intentional about are the things in my life that I value the most... such as my education, friends, family, my favorite TV shows.

But then when I look to the things that Jesus was intentional about, I'm not so consistent with those things. I'm not always intentional about things like finding time for prayer (Mark 1:35), authentic worship through my actions (John 4:24), seeking His will in my life (1 Peter 4:2), making His presence known to other people (Acts 1:8), and ultimately bringing Him glory in all things (1 Cor 10:31). These are all things that are essential in my growth as a believer. Being intentional about these will only bring me closer to my Father.

God is teaching me right now to really examine my heart to see what I value. It's not fun. In fact, it's embarrassing to think of all the things that I'm intenional about in my daily life and then to reflect on my spiritual disciplines and see how often I lack a sense of urgency and intention.



So can I ask you... what are you intentional about? What areas of your life do you need to step up and have more urgency to see them carried out?