A little confessional blog today, with an invite to join me on this stretch of “the long way home.”

For most of my life, I have prided myself on the ability to “wing it,” “flying by the seat of my pants,” as they say. (OK, enough of the metaphors!) An honest assessment of the last several years of my life, however, reveals that I have begun to overlook too much, waste too much time, forget things I need to remember, and give less than my best efforts at some important things that should get the best of my attention and energy. I have come to the conclusion that I have allowed my life to drift and that I spend more time reacting to what happens around me than proactively charting a course of life stewardship.

The Old Testament sacrificial system placed great emphasis on the quality of the sacrifice being placed on the altar as well as the sincerity of the heart of the one offering it. A genuine worshipper would not bring just any sacrifice to place on the altar. The quality of the sacrifice reflected the depth of the devotion in the heart of that worshiper. I want my life to reflect a sincere heart and a pure sacrifice.

So… I am getting my life in order.

I am committing to live more intentional than ever.

I will live by God’s priorities,

I will master my schedule,

I will take care of my body, soul, and mind.

Giving more attention to the details of life will not come easily for me, and I have no intentions of becoming obsessive-compulsive about life; BUT, with God’s help

I want to order my priorities properly,

I want to invest my time productively, and

I want to live out my days passionately pursuing what really matters for eternity.

More on my quest for intentionality next time.  For now, I encourage you to take stock of your life. Are you drifting from day to day, trying to manage what happens? Or do you have a sense of what God wants from you and are you living by His design for your life? Interestingly, knowing that the time of his death was drawing near, Paul had this assessment of his life:

 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. – 2 Timothy 4:7

Notice the definite articles. He fought not just any good fight, but THE good fight. He finished not just any race, but THE race. He did not just keep faith; he kept THE faith. Intentionality. The things that really mattered. Paul was not reactive, but proactive. He had a sense of what God wanted from him, and he pursued that passionately.

What about you? In what areas of your life are you adrift? In which parts of your life do you need design and order that only God can give?