Proverbs 25:14\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of gifts never given.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019Good intentions stink,\u2019 that\u2019s what my pastor said\u201d a brother in the Lord told me many moons ago.\u00a0 At first, not being sure of the intent of the statement, I wasn\u2019t sure I agreed with the statement.\u00a0 After all, doesn\u2019t God look at the heart? (1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Samuel 13:14<\/b>) \u00a0Though King David was a man who committed horrible sins He was also a man who, in spite of His flaws, truly loved God and sought to please Him. (Acts 13:22<\/b>)\u00a0 God\u2019s great love and care for King David has taught me about God\u2019s great love for me.\u00a0 I was curious to hear what my brother was about to explain.<\/p>\n
His pastor had made the point that those who intended to do well, but then, for whatever reason, not doing what was intended, for no good reason, well that just stinks.\u00a0\u00a0 What if a father comes home a little beat up from work and his son greets him at the door with baseball gloves and a baseball and says to his dad \u201cOh boy, oh boy Daddy I\u2019m so glad you\u2019re home!\u00a0 I\u2019ve been waiting for you to come home so we can play catch like you promised yesterday!\u00a0 Yippee!\u201d\u00a0 However the boy\u2019s heart sinks as his father says to him \u201cSure Son, we can do that, just let Daddy rest a bit first.\u00a0 I\u2019m very tired from work.\u00a0 We\u2019ll play catch in a little bit.\u00a0 Is that okay?\u00a0 You understand, right Son?\u201d His son had heard this many times and more often than not, Dad watched T.V. and laid down on the couch and didn\u2019t play catch.\u00a0 So the boy was hopeful, but not convinced that Dad would play catch as he had promised.\u00a0 Now, when the father had promised his son that he would play catch, he had sincerely meant it.\u00a0 Truly his intentions were good, but the keeping of the good intentions did not happen. Having good intentions is not what matters if the good intentions are like fruit that drop from a tree only to rot away and stink. \u00a0Unfilled promises, to the children who love us, stink.<\/p>\n
Family, it is likely we have all had good intentions that we did not live up to.\u00a0 Jesus said \u201cAll you need to say is simply \u2018Yes\u2019 or \u2018No\u2019; anything beyond this comes from the evil one<\/i>.\u201d\u201d (Mathew 5:37<\/b>) \u00a0If we promise something, then we should live up to it. If we are not sure that we can deliver, than don\u2019t promise. \u00a0To God, our given word is a contract that should not be broken.\u00a0 Yet our good intentions are often given with weak commitment.\u00a0 One may promise to another that they will always love the other and will never do anything to hurt the other person.\u00a0 A very good intention.\u00a0 Then, the person does hurt the other.\u00a0 A promise not kept.\u00a0 And the hurt person, who had said they would love the other (who hurt them) does not act in a loving way (by not giving up on the one who hurt them), but instead withdraws the stated love.\u00a0 Oh there are plenty of reasons, plenty of excuses, but in the end, a failure to live out the good intention, well, it stinks.<\/p>\n
Many of us make grand promises to God.\u00a0 Here is God\u2019s perspective:\u00a0\u00a0Deuteronomy 23:21-23<\/b>\u00a0\u201cIf you make a vow to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God, do not be slow to pay it,\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.\u00a022\u00a0But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.\u00a0 23\u00a0Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God with your own mouth<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 God desires that we be wise in our statements, not as little children who with good intentions, but lack of wisdom, promise to do what one does not have the ability, or follow up, to actually do.\u00a0 Do not promise and then not do.\u00a0 It is better to not make a promise and then to do what was in one\u2019s heart than to make a promise and not keep it.\u00a0 Yes, we have forgiveness through Jesus (John 1:9<\/b>), but we should value and honor His sacrifices on our behalf.\u00a0 Disciples fashion their lives after their masters, so ought we.\u00a0 God does not promise and then not do, but every word that He has ever uttered He either has, or will keep (Psalm 33:11, Matthew 5:18<\/b>).\u00a0 Praise God for that!\u00a0 Praise God that all of God\u2019s good intentions for us will come true.\u00a0 Chiefly, He will keep us and not lose us who love Him.\u00a0 (John 6:39<\/b>)\u00a0 Let\u2019s let our yes be yes and our no be no.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not make promises without due consideration.\u00a0 Let us consider the costs.\u00a0 As we promise to serve the Lord forever, and as we make promises to each other, let us be wise. (Luke 14:25-35<\/b>).<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Proverbs 25:14\u00a0\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of gifts never given. \u201c\u2019Good intentions stink,\u2019 that\u2019s what my pastor said\u201d a brother in the Lord told me many moons ago.\u00a0 At first, not being sure of the intent of the statement, I wasn\u2019t sure I agreed with the statement.\u00a0 After all, doesn\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,1872,100,106,101,94,88,17,2187],"class_list":["post-1520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-deuteronomy","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-proverbs","tag-psalm","tag-samuel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1521,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions\/1521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}