Living Life Intentionally

Have you ever heard someone say these four words? Maybe it was your mother, or a boss, or your friend. Maybe you've said them yourself, tacked on to the end of a sentence. Here are the four words: "...and I mean it!" No matter the subject or what came before those words, they were spoken to let the listener know, in no uncertain terms, that the speaker was serious about what she was saying. The topic mattered and those in earshot had better "listen up, because this counts!" 

Let's look at what it takes to live a life that says: "I mean it. The way I'm living is not just a careless, happenstance of random events. What I'm doing and how I'm living counts. It matters every day. I mean it when I live this life."

In a world that too often believes in luck, randomness and chance, every day people head out the door with no idea why they're alive on this earth or how to live through the day ahead of them with purpose and meaning.

In sharp contrast to this kind of vague groping for significance in a world of randomness, God makes it plain that we can live an intentional life... one with profound meaning, clear direction, and eternal value.

You can almost hear God echoing, "...and I mean it!" when Paul writes these words from Ephesians 5:17 (The Message): "Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants."

God Is Intentional

Right away, this verse tells us that God is intentional. He wants something specifically from us and for us. The whole narrative of Scripture is the story that tells us what God wants from us. He created us for relationship with Him and to share in the eternal Kingdom of peace and righteousness that He is forming. Because of humanity's rebellion against God, sin has broken that relationship, but God was very intentional in making a way for that bond to be restored. When He sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to live as the perfect man, die on the cross for our sins, and be raised from the dead to conquer death, God was saying in essence, "I still want to have a relationship with you. I mean it." What He wants from us is a repentant, surrendered heart that has put full faith in Him and completely embraces the relationship He intends.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19, NLT, puts it like this: "What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun! All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others." 

God not only wants something from us, but for us. His desire, as the verses we just read state, is that we have a new life in the present. In John 10:10, Jesus further clarifies God's intentions for us. He says, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." He wants the Sues, Glorias, and Jennifers of the world to know that they are not an accident... that they will find meaning and purpose, not by winning the lottery or maintaining a perfect image, but through an authentic, vibrant relationship with Him.

That kind of relationship is the basis by which we can begin to stop living "carelessly, unthinkingly," ...and really start understanding "what the Master wants," as our theme verse in Ephesians 5 states. So what does it look like to live intentionally--like you mean it, in the real world?

To read the rest of this article, please view Ministering to Women in 2009 (page 12). To view theme-related products, go to http://women.ag.org/theme/products/.

JODI DETRICK is District Women's Director for the Northwest Ministry Network. A frequent retreat, conference and special events speaker, Jodi is also a writer and contributor to the Faith and Values page of The Seattle Times newspaper.