Last night I taught Pastor Fred's Wednesday evening Bible study, he is out of state at a conference. I actually taught on the characteristics of a missional life out of Acts 2. That's not what I'm gonna write about today; even though it is an amazing topic! But what I found as I reviewed what I taught was my consistent use of the phrase, be intentional.
I have been a Christian for almost 10 years now and what I am continually realizing is that the Christian life, or at least one that matters, will never happen on accident. Living the life worthy of the calling to be a Christ follower requires a great deal of planning and intentionality. I will be taking a look at three areas that require our intentionality.
1.) Our Devotional life. On Sunday night Gwen, Eli, and myself joined a retired couple for dinner following evening worship. As we were leaving the gentlemen commented he had to get to bed, 4 am would come early. I asked why on earth he would wake up this early as a retired gentleman, he starts the day off with an hour of prayer and Bible study. What an example. As believers we have to schedule time sacrificially to spend time getting to know the heart of God better. Or it won't happened. This is difficult to start and even harder to maintain. But the life that Christ has called us to live requires intense time spent in prayer and Bible study will which require intentional planning on our part!
2.) Engaging the local church. First in regular attendance. There is a line of thought out there that you can get spiritually feed from para church organizations and services and that replaces church. These are not what Christ established in Peter's confession. These good organizations and ministries do not cut it. I have also heard that you can maintain a close relationship with Christ or be spiritual without church attendance. Is this possible? It maybe but I have never seen it work. Church attendance is a necessity in the life of every believer. Also we have to engage in the ministry of the local church. It is simply not enough to fill a pew, or even fill a pew and give. Every attender and believer needs to in some aspect be filling some empty role in their house of worship. Churches are most effective in fulfilling the great commission when the service by their members is maximized.
3.) Evangelism. As believers we have to be looking for oppritunitiesto share the gospel with un-believers. If you are waiting for the perfect opportunity to share the gospel chances are you will be waiting for a very long time. We have to be looking for opportunities in everyday conversations to turn the encounter towards the cross. If we are not intentional about creating gospel conversations then the message of Christ will cease to be shared, at least by us.
My thought are not complex, they pretty foundational. But as Christians we are called to have a kingdom impact. But this only happens when we plan to do so, never on accident.
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