Living with Intention: Are You the Hero of Your Life?

Are you living with intention? Do you have a purpose and plan for your life — a motivating force that drives you forward, gives you vision, gives you hope?

It’s easy to fall into the rut of living an automated life. The alarm rings and you’re out of bed and out the door to work. Five o’clock hits and you’re back in your car and home and scrambling to fix supper and hope for a few minutes in front of the television and then it’s time for bed and the whole cycle starts over again. Life has turned into a blur. Forget about what you want in life — right now you’re just trying to get through the week.

Intention and obstacle. That’s the foundation of every good story — of every good life. The hero wants something: the girl, the gold, the happy ending — and a villain or antagonistic force is standing in the way.

Romeo wants Juliet but family stands in the way.

Elsa wants to be good but her anger trips her up.

Frodo wants to save the world by destroying the ring, but evil forces work against him.

A strong intention, an imposing obstacle — it’s what makes a story rich. It’s the premise of a great book or movie. You don’t have a hero if you don’t have intent, a motivating force in his or her life. You don’t have a story if you don’t have obstacles in the way, creating conflict and giving the audience something to root for as the hero battles her way through to win the prize, the goal, her intended desire.

And therein lies the key to living life. Are you the hero of your own story, your own life? Do you have an intention — something so strong that you are willing to go to extremes to accomplish it?

What motivates you to get out of bed every morning? What stirs you to fight through every obstacle, to pray through every wall or roadblock to accomplish it?

The apostle Paul had his eye on a Prize — the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived with strong intention and desire to achieve that prize!

“I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.” (1 Corinthians 9:26, NIV)

Another version says, “I run with purpose in every step…”  (Corinthians 9:26, NLT)

For me, my passion is simple. My passion is Jesus. My intention is to bring Him glory in whatever I do or say. I want to achieve great things and I want to see my family thrive, but if you boil me down, you’ll find that the driving force behind everything I do is to honor Him.

And I’m encouraged by the example Jesus gave us, who “for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Talk about intention and obstacle!

If you’re wandering through life, purposeless or lost, I encourage you to become the hero of your own story. Fix your eyes on Jesus and start running your life race with one purpose, one goal, one intention in mind: to win the prize of Him.