"Intentionality" with Matt Warren

Recently I was talking to my 15 year old son about his approach and response to teammates in competitive moments.  The discussion led me to recall moments when I was his age and the struggles that I dealt with in competition.  I remember when either myself or one of my teammates were not performing as well as was expected there could be tension or frustration when the poor performance persisted.  I shared with my son (hopefully out of some maturity from almost 30 years more of life experience) how his response in those moments can make both a difference in his performance as well as his teams, especially if he encourages his teammates or persists in his own pursuit of improvement positively.

Then I was reading something that day from C.H. Spurgeon, "We should keep the image of God so constantly before us that we become conformed to it.  The inner love for righteousness must be the motive for Christian integrity in our public walk."

The Scriptures communicate that the image of God before us is the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:1-3).  In my reasoning I know this to be true, but in my worship and daily living there can certainly be moments of disconnect.  The disconnect exists because I have exchanged what is best for things that might be good, or things that might even lead to compromising my faith.  I admit that I am often content with fleeting pleasures of sin instead of righteousness.

It is much like the athlete who has the ability to perform at a high level, be it in practice or game,  who finds himself practicing or performing at a compromised level.   The competitive side in me rises up and wants to call out, "Let's go man, do your best."  The coach in me would want to pull a struggling player aside and ask if there is a distraction or possibly an injury reducing the level of performance.  We know for success to occur there is a requirement on all of the team's part (coaches included) - intentionality.   Intentionality requires a focus on the goal, maybe even intensity (the Latin roots are very similar - intentus and intensus) in hopes of achieving the best performance.  In competition, success takes discipline and intentional, maybe even a relentless focus on the prize.

Herein lies the comparison: for the highly competitive athlete there must be an inner desire to perform consistently to the best of one's ability, despite any obstacle - INTENTIONALITY.  For the Christian, there must be an inner love for the righteousness of Jesus to be the highest regard - INTENTIONALITY.  This occurs not only in the realm of reason, but in the inner disciplines of devotion, prayer, and meditation as well as the outward life of worship, confession, and lifestyle evangelism (Romans 12:9-21).

I would hope and trust, as men who reason that the Scriptures are able to make us "competent and equipped for every good work, (2 Timothy 3:15-16)" that we not only reason about our faith, but we also connect the inner love, the affections and passions, for righteousness (not even merely the pursuit of it, for that will leave us short).  For if we love righteousness, the people in our lives . . . our wives (girlfriends or fiancee' as appropriate), children, co-workers, brothers in arms, etc, would identify the integrity of that commitment to inner righteousness through our public walk.  We would find greater joy, peace and intimacy with God and the glory of God would be revealed in us His sons.

So I must ask myself these questions, "Does my life reflect on a public nature the greatest thing I am competing for - an inner love of the righteousness of Jesus?"  That is what I am competing for in the midst of my day while denying the adversary, our opponent, the opportunity and ability to rob me of that righteousness I possess in Christ.  So will we together avoid cheap substitutes? Will we together rally at our positions?   Will we in unison race together so that we conform to the image of Christ and glorify our Heavenly Father?  I need committed men with me - INTENT on the same end, INTENSE for the same goal - loving righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus, above all else!