But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, “My son, go, work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I don’t want to!” Yet later he changed his mind and went. Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. “I will, sir,” he answered. But he didn’t go. Which of the two did his father’s will? “The first,” they said.” (Matthew 21:28-31)
How important are good intentions? They are fundamental! Intention is our determination to act in a certain way, our resolve to achieve a certain goal. Good intentions are the desires we have to accomplish good. They allow us to plan, prepare and then perform the good we have in mind. Without good intentions there is no desire, no preparation and no initiative to reach out and accomplish good for the kingdom of God. Nothing good can be done without good intentions.
As basic as good intentions are, they must be carried out to accomplish anything good. You can have all the good intentions possible, but if they are never acted on, the result is no different from the one who has no good intentions at all. Either way, nothing positive is accomplished. Jesus emphasized this in the above parable. It was not the son who said he would work that did the will of his father, but the one who actually served (although he had originally said he would not). No matter the good intentions of the one son who said he would serve, they lay empty in his heart, unfulfilled and unproductive. In the end, it was he, even with good intentions, who was considered disobedient.
Most of us have good intentions. As recipients of God’s mercy, our desire is to live and serve faithfully from a loving heart. The question is what do we do with those good intentions, those noble desires we have for God? They should be the springboards from which good works proceed (Ephesians 2:10). If not, then no matter how much potential we have, our lives will remain idle and wasted, accomplishing nothing. We glorify God when our words and deeds join in His service. Let us plan what we can do for the Lord, and then let’s work, in the will of God, to make it happen. “But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability” (2 Corinthians 8:11).
