What March Madness Teaches Us About Intentional Living

NCAA BB TrophyMarch Madness has begun. Most college basketball teams are playing in their conference tournaments determining which teams will move on to the national “dance” – The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. College basketball is a big deal…and even bigger deal in March. All of the “hoop”-la to win that big ol’ trophy.

No NCAA Championship team began the season without a vision of how they would win enough regular season games, win the conference championship, and win their way through the national tourney to be crowned champions. No championship is won accidentally; champions win on purpose. No team just shows up to play, tosses the ball around, and plays to “make the best” of each game as it comes. Champions work hard for their championship, and they play a full season with (here comes my word again)…intentionality. From the opening practice until the buzzer of the final game they work hard with a singular goal: win the trophy.

Sadly many believers drift through life without a game plan for a successful spiritual journey. Consider the sense of purpose Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Corinthian church:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. – 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“So run,” he says. “I do not run aimlessly,” he testifies. “I discipline my body,” he demonstrates. Purpose. Intentionality. Vision.

What is your game plan? What are you doing to win in the important areas of your life? Your spiritual development? Your marriage? Your relationship with your kids? Other important facets of you life? What is the game plan?

Let me encourage you to answer four questions for yourself today.

  1. What are the most important relationships in my life?
  2. What would “winning” look like in each of those relationships?
  3. What’s the score right now in each of those relationships?
  4. What are one or two things I can do today to start running better in those areas?

Ask God to give you honest insight into your own life and ask Him to give you wisdom and strength to make the necessary changes to begin living intentionally in those areas. Run to win. Run with purpose. Run with self-control.

Did You Do That on Purpose?

Whether in our Christian development, our marriage, our relationship with our kids, our jobs, or any other facet of life, we live in one of two ways. Either we react to things as they come or we proactively live with intention in these important life areas. We either respond to what life throws at us, or we approach life with purpose and intention. Consider a lesson from a Bible hero named Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs… Daniel 1:8-9

When faced with a decision to capitulate and conform to others around him, Daniel “resolved” to maintain his character. The word translated into the singular word “resolved” is actually a Hebrew phrase literally rendered “set his heart.” Some translations render the phrase “purpose.” I like that.

Daniel would be challenged by the threat of the lions’ den and his three friends by the threat of a fiery furnace. All four at their moments of decision resolutely chose character over capitulation. Why? Not because they took a moment to pray about and weight the pros and cons, but because they had made the decision long ago – well before the pressure moment. They had a plan; they lived INTENTIONALLY.

Intentional living worked out really well for Daniel. He went from the lions’ den to Vice-Emperor. His three friends found favor among their leaders and rose to positions of responsibility in the kingdom. They did it not by chance or luck, but by intentionality in the Hand of God’s providence.

How are you living the most important accounts in your life? Do you have an intentional plan to grow spiritually? To enhance your marriage? To lead your children? To use your job and other activities for God’s glory? Or…do you just leave it all up to chance, trying to “keep the plates spinning,” “tread water,” “take it one day at a time as life comes,” or any number of other reaction-centered clichés? Things do not improve accidentally. You can’t wait on someone else to do “their part.” You must choose to take the necessary steps to live intentionally.

Here is my challenge to you for today.

Choose 1 thing you will begin doing immediately and intentionally…

  • to delve into deeper intimacy with Jesus,
  • to enhance your marriage,
  • to positively affect your kids.

That’s a pretty good start right there. Do it… INTENTIONALLY.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” – Jedi Yoda

Don’t Be Fooled by the Illusion of Time

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Monday marked a unique occurrence in our keeping of time; it was Leap Day. Many people do not realize that we have the extra day because our standard calendar only accounts for 365 of the 365¼ days the Earth revolves around the sun. So to even things out, we tack on a day at the end of the already shortest month.

In reality, our calendars present an illusion of time to us. Cosmologically speaking, we do not actually have an “extra day.” Similarly, we celebrate the New Year on January 1st when in reality that day on any given year is nothing more than the day that followed the day before it. We reset our calendars, and make resolutions to live the next 365 days (or in this year’s case, the next 366) differently; seemingly “better.”

Our measurement of time within our days can also be illusory as well. In 13 days we will begin a standard of time measurement we call “Daylight Saving Time.” (Pet peeve alert: the word “saving” is not meant to be plural. It is not Daylight Savings time, as in a Savings account). I once heard a prominent Atlanta radio personality explain that we observe DST so that we can give the farmers an extra hour of daylight. Apparently, he never worked on a farm. Farm work is pre-dawn to post-dusk regardless of where the hands on the clock are positioned.

As we think about the supposed “extra day” we were given, let me present a question for your consideration.

For the most part, did you SPEND the day or INVEST the day?

All of this “extra day” and “extra hour” talk has stoked the burden in my heart for intentional living. Life is precious. At any moment any of our lives could be snuffed out. I choose not to live in fear of my life suddenly and unexpectedly ending, but I do, however, choose to live what days I have with purpose, meaning, and intentionality.

Consider the wise words of Moses and Paul:

So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom. – Psalm 90:12

…making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. – Ephesians 5:16

Not just on leap day and not just during DST, but EVERY DAY and in EVERY SEASON, are you living with intentionality toward the things that matter for eternity? Do you devote your heart to spending time with God? Do you invest the best of yourself in your family? Are you building your life out of the proverbial gold, silver, and precious stones that will withstand eternity’s testing fire?

Or… are you living your life as a consumer? Spending your time and energy making money to accumulate more of Earth’s transient offerings? Do you spend your days (frustratingly so) trying to make things come out to suit you, go your way, or benefit you?

I challenge you today to take a fresh look at your priorities, aspirations, and ambitions. Even if you achieve all you are seeking here on Earth, what will be of it when you are gone? The most important investment of time and resources are in those priorities that matter for eternity.

Living On Purpose

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Word for the day: INTENTIONALITY.

I am afraid most of us go through the moments of our days without stopping to realize the opportunities placed before us. We endure our jobs merely for the paycheck we receive. We attend school for the education we receive. We live in a neighborhood because of the benefits we receive from living there. We associate with certain friends because of the camaraderie we receive from their company.

What would happen, however, if we began to view the moments of our days in terms of what we can give rather than receive? What if we began to live out what we read in the writings of Paul?

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. –1 Corinthians 10:31

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. – Colossians 3:17

What if we lived in such a way that others could say about us what was written of Hezekiah?

Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered. – 2 Chronicles 31:20-21

How would it change our lives if we lived to make Paul’s admonition in Colossians 1:18 a reality?

And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.

  • Would it change what matters in our church preferences if we really sought the preeminence of Christ?
  • Would it change our approach to our jobs if we realized Christ strategically placed us there so He could use us for HIS purposes?
  • How different would our parenting be if we recognized that Jesus blessed us with our children so HE could use us to shape the next generation of godly leaders?
  • What of our behavior at the shopping venues and the ballpark?
  • Would we behave differently toward our neighbors if we understood God placed us in our home to be salt and light to those around us?

Will you take the challenge to change your life paradigm from an accidental and coincidental life to a life of INTENTIONALITY? Ask yourself – why does God have me here and how can God use me here?

Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. – Ephesians 5:15-16