Daily PresenceSample

Growing up in a Christian school, everyone considers themselves Christians regardless of if their actions are in line with what that means. It’s simply the thing to do. In my young mind, seeing everyone acting so differently and all saying they were Christians made me wonder what it meant to be a Christian. I now know it is Jesus’ grace and sacrifice that puts us in right standing with God, but there’s a case to be made about intentionality, right?

Valentine’s day was a couple of days ago and I’ve failed a couple of times for “lack of intentionality”. I’m sure some of you can relate. Now imagine being in the Israelite camp and you see this man walking in with the Moabite women like there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. You see their “lack of intentionality” to be in the right relationship with God. I doubt that you do the same thing Phinehas did, I don’t advocate for it either, but maybe you do get some righteous anger.

“When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach.”

Maybe you’re on the other side of this reality. Maybe you see an area of your life where you stopped being intentional at. That could be your daily time with God or a particular thorn in the flesh which you gave up fighting. I had a pastor who used to say, “My spirit, my responsibility”. I want to urge you today, there’s a case to be made about intentionality. It’s not what sustains our relationship with God, but it’s what nourishes it. James said it clearer than I ever could.

James 1:22-25

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.