It was my second year of college and one of my older classmates had invited me to the Church he attended. Since I did not have a regular preaching gig yet I accepted the offer and visited his Church that Sunday morning. He not only attended but was teaching a Sunday School class before the worship program. I must admit that I have sat through some terrible Sunday School lessons in my time but this one lesson he taught made a deep impact on my life. For part of the lesson he talked about a book he was reading for a class written by William Law called “A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life.” It was originally written in 1728 and was then given a new forward by Elton Trueblood in 1951.

I remember very specifically his lesson was about chapter two of the book. That chapter is entitled “The Importance of Intention.” It is only 4 pages long and can be read very easily. My friend and my teacher took this one chapter and explained it and then attached it to one story in the bible that he applied it to. I can’t remember the exact Bible story he used but I do remember the beginning of the lesson. He focused on the concept that Law had taught hundreds of years before on the matter of intentions.

Here is the simple principle – Our intentions guide our actions. Intentions are those attitudes that guide our emotions and actions. People who intend to run a marathon will begin training for a marathon. People who intend to read the Bible will develop a plan to read the Bible. The opposite is also true. The reason many people never change their actions is that they never intended to. I am not training for a marathon because I have no intention of running one. People who never read the Bible have no real intention to do it.

All this begs the question: “What do I intend to do with my life?” Do you have any intention to serve, to read, to study, to attend, to become, to do anything for God? The harsh reality is that you and I will never accomplish anything we do not intend to do first, because intentions guide actions.

After his lesson I went out and bought the book. To be honest, it is the only chapter I have ever read completely in the whole book. That’s okay, that single concept has helped me to get a handle on my spiritual growth. Start with an idea, develop an intention and start working on the action. It’s that simple.