The Bible bestows compliment on those who give an extra effort to what they do. They are the cold or hot, not the lukewarm. These last, the Luke-warmers, are the ones that God spews out of his consideration. We do not stumble upon God, as so many persons seem to expect to do – if God is real. The intention of the person confessing faith is to be an overcomer: to derail temptations; to strengthen moral standards in a humanistic society; and, to pray, to model, to witness the Christian life. The list can be extended. With affirmatives, that person strives for the best and the right in a life full of beliefs and conducts. Each person ought to take inventory of his or her life, certainly at the time of Communion services, to check on the intensity of his or her performance as a Christian. What are the things, ideas, conducts in my life that most drive me? If the observations highest on the list are not related to loving worship and proper obedience to God for the whole of my life, they lack fulfillment of the best expectations noted in the Scriptures. Our lives can become, even when Christian, tangled webs. We can fairly well articulate what God has to say about alleged, or weak, Christians who may reluctantly attend church, who may give a pittance to ministry, who may serve only when pressed to do so, who may evade, in this or that way, identity as genuine Christians, as God defines effective Christian lives.
Among the stories and allusions of the early Church relative to those who obviously missed the mark were the stories of Ananias and Sapphira in reserving funds to themselves, funds promised to the ministry of the Church (Acts 5), and of Simon who would turn the Church effort into a profitable business (Acts 8). The local congregation exulted over the fact that Ananias had promised a large money donation, and Simon had burned his books of sorcery. Intentions were contradictory. Peter saw through it all. Ensuing judgment was severe. In other passages, as in John’s Epistles, we can find similar persons who opposed the intentionality of the Lord for their lives. We would not do well to focus on the dramatic violations, and miss the greater numbers of persons who may join the Christian ranks for spiritual safety, but fail integrity carrying through the high vision of the kingdom of God. These last take the minimum offered to assure spiritual rescue, but evade the abundant life that Christians are called upon to live. It is a life of assurance by the Holy Spirit of God to carry through the plan of God using models to reach mankind. We can fulfill our own apostolic calling to be genuine in what we are to reach others, especially those of our own families. This is Scriptural calling – an intentional life, not casual or accidental. We mean to reduce accidents, by adopting appropriate intentions.
Christian commitment includes everything good that one can give for the benefit (needs) of others. It requires more than I would have given, no matter how well intentioned, if I were not a Christian. Out of Christian intentionality I sought education. I looked for and married a person who would help me in the Christian meaning of my life. My children intentionally helped me, or seemed to do so, in carrying through on those ideals. Rightness was sought, work was followed, and all was related to the high goal of intentionally to honor God. Each person is animated in knowing, each day, what self-intentions are for today? The answer affects meaning, serving in the understanding of meaning in the human relationship with God. There is a practicality in it that helps in living by sensing that God is vitally taken by work that serves the benefits of others. He made mankind so to have children who would carry a similar motivation, the divine ideal. It is in this context that God identifies works, growing out of an inheritance from God in image. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020