My mother had little experience with road building but she talked a lot about it. One of her favorite expressions was, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I’m sure that I laid a few bricks on that road myself.  How about you? Ever say “I meant to get that done yesterday,” or “I intended to take care of that.”? How about, “I meant to visit her,” or “I intended to pray for him but I forgot.”? Bet you have done something similar, right?

That reminds me of something my father-in-law use to say. “They meant well,” he would say about those who mess up because they intended but never did. It’s better to mean well than wrong I guess but good intentions and meant to’s will never get the job done. My mom may have overstated the case on the pavement to hell but it is true that little good happens when all we do is intend or mean to.

When we never get around to doing what needs to be done we leave things unfinished. The hungry are not fed, the naked aren’t clothed, the weak are not strengthened and the ignorant are not taught. More importantly, the lost are not saved.

Someone is in the hospital and we intend to visit. A person asks for prayer and we really do mean to pray. Good intentions but no actions plagues us in our attempt to be Christ like. Most of us have a set of priorities that we have established and they often do not include the extras that are added in during the week, such as visits, prayers and other helpful activities.

What is the cure for this road to hell paving my mama talked about? Don’t make promises we can’t or won’t keep. Don’t bite off more than we can chew.  Put your promises on the calendar. Here’s the hard one: change our priorities to include someone beside ourselves.