You may have heard the saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” which means it is not sufficient to claim to have good intentions. One must follow through with commensurate action.
However, there might be a sense that the statement isn’t entirely out of moral and spiritual taste. Consider those intentions you had as a child. You wanted to build your mom or dad the best home in the Islands when you grew up. You had the intention to feed thousands of poor people in your city.
It could be that you wanted to be the most just employer in the universe and pay your workers 40% more than the average pay across industries. Or, for the religious, you wanted to say your prayers every day, go to church every Sunday, or participate in a mission trip. You wanted to maintain all your commitments to the church and the people.
But how many of us fulfill all these intentions?
Those whose conscience is in the right place feel bad, if not pained, when they fail to fulfill these intentions. Those intentions don’t matter for the careless and for the deceitful; they are mere words. You know where your heart is in this spectrum.
God Intentions Matter
However, for your mom or dad, whom you promised to bless when you grew old, it makes them feel happy. Most likely, they sense those promises are up in the air, and the future will tell, but not expressing them makes the parent wonder how grateful this child might be.
A genuine good intention expressed to the one for whom we wish to fulfill it impacts the person somehow. In the same way, terrible words stick and sting in the heart; a good intention expressed or shown is delightful. It would be otherwise if the one who expresses the intention has established a pattern of empty promises.
A Biblical Example that Helps
In the Second Book of Samuel 7:4-17, David expresses a good, holy intention. The intention grows out of reverence for God and gratitude. The young David, settling in a beautiful home built of the best wood in town, cedar, realizes that God lives in a tent. He feels sad about it and wants to change the situation, promising to build God a temple that befits what he (we) knows of God.
I say a tent that befits what we know of God because nothing anyone can ever give befits God. Blessed is God, who leads us throughout our lives as he led David. What can we give God when he is the source of anything we can ever get or give?
As I mentioned in a previous reflection, our gestures are a response to blessing, a praise to the Lord who is way above us, and as Scripture says, whose power working in us does more than we can think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). But for the fact that David thinks this good thought, God chooses to bless him and promises that his thought is a pointer to what he, the Lord, will do for generations to come. God will establish a house that will endure.
Suppose you read this passage from Second Samuel 7. You’ll notice that God’s promises delivered through the Prophet Nathan are all centered on security for David and his roots. God promises to secure them in spiritual, moral, social, economic, cultural, political, and biological ways.
A Theological Implication
One could theologically argue that just like the ‘yes’ of Mother Mary is pivotal in the birth of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, David’s good intention is also pivotal in us knowing God’s will about the Christ from the stock of David, son of Jesse. As we learn from Scripture, no one outdoes God in generosity.
What do we learn from this? Good intention is always a very acceptable first step. Expressing them is a commitment, too. Please do not hold back from expressing your good intentions to those who need to hear them. That warms the heart. What is much better, though, is working hard to follow through and meaning what you intended and doing your best to achieve them.
Most importantly, when people know you mean well and treasure them in your heart, there is often a reciprocal tenderness toward you. It looks good for you, more than you might know.
Concluding Thoughts
Yes, the gate to hell is paved with good intentions. Nevertheless, the path to life starts with good intentions, too, for the “good soil” the Lord speaks about in Mark 4: 8-9 is the one whose heart and intentions are disposed, with good intentions, to hear and listen and be blessed.
Take a moment to reflect on your current intentions and aspirations. In what ways am I actively working to realize my good intentions? How do my intentions and actions affect those closest to me? Are there intentions I’ve expressed in the past that I’ve yet to act upon? What holds me back? How can I ensure that my good intentions don’t remain just words but translate into meaningful actions?
