There is a chronic disease in our society that has been festering for years -- our words are lofty, our intentions are great, but our actions are weak and inadequate. In the early 1860s, Charles Dickens created a character just like this in his novel Great Expectations. Herbert Pocket was a young man who had grand plans, but instead of fulfilling his dream, he spent his time "looking about him." He made plans for years without doing anything about them.
Over 100 years before that, John Wesley preached a sermon called The Almost Christian where he addressed the path of intentions directly...
...do good designs and good desires make a Christian? By no means, unless they are brought to good effect. "Hell is paved," saith one, "with good intentions." The great question of all, then, still remains. Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart? ... Do you then love your neighbour as yourself? Do you love every man, even your enemies, even the enemies of God, as your own soul? as Christ loved you? ..."In other words, in the eyes of God, it's not our good words, our great intentions, that matter -- it's our lives that count. What really matters is the way that we live out the love of God in the world.
- Not "we intend to feed the hungry," but "we have given the hungry something to eat."
- Not "we want prejudice to end," but "we have begun to break down the walls."
- Not "we are hoping for world peace," but "our actions have brought the peace of Christ into places that were once torn by war."
