by David Gibson<\/p>\n
When you hear the expression “good intentions,” what comes to mind? A noble desire that fizzles out? We even have a saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”<\/p>\n
An example of good intentions gone awry is that of the Israelites’ repeated pledge to obey God (Exodus 19:8; 24:3, 7). But soon they were worshiping the golden calf (Exodus 32).<\/p>\n
And yet, Ruth expressed her determination never to leave her widowed mother-in-law Naomi (Ruth 1:16-17). She kept her word.<\/p>\n
Hannah promised that if God would give her a son, she would give him back to God (I Samuel 1). She did.<\/p>\n
Paul announced his plans to visit Rome. Despite tremendous hardships, with God’s help, he finally arrived at his destination (Acts 19:21; 23:11; Romans 1:10-15; 15:22-32; Acts 28:14-31).<\/p>\n
The problem, then, is not with good intentions per se. Countless great accomplishments began with good intentions.<\/p>\n
So what do we need? Follow-through, dogged persistence, tenacity. In other words: Good Intentions \u2192 Consistent Effort \u2192 Mission Accomplished<\/p>\n
Paul was concerned that the Corinthians’ zeal for sending aid to their poor Jewish brethren had cooled. He urged them, “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<\/em>” (II Corinthians 8:11 NASB). Paul’s appeal was successful. They came through! (Romans 15:25-28).<\/p>\n How we need good intentions! No other kind will do.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson When you hear the expression “good intentions,” what comes to mind? A noble desire that fizzles out? We even have a saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Empty promises An example of good intentions gone awry is that of the Israelites’ repeated pledge to obey God (Exodus 19:8;…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[705],"class_list":["post-89826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-intentions"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91421,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-question-of-god-repenting-or-changing-his-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":89826,"position":0},"title":"The Question of God Repenting or Changing His Mind","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton A skeptic thought he found a flaw in the Bible and the God of the Bible. He believes the following is a contradiction in the Bible: Does God change his mind? \"For I am the Lord; I change not\" (Malachi 3:6). \"God is not a man,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/regrets-of-unfulfilled-promises\/","url_meta":{"origin":89826,"position":1},"title":"Regrets of Unfulfilled Promises","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores Everyone has regrets about unfulfilled promises. I know I do. I made a promise many years ago that remains unkept to this day. It's not that I was purposely trying to deceive those to whom I made the promise. It's not that I didn't have the time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29448,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-abram-rewarded-for-lying-to-pharaoh\/","url_meta":{"origin":89826,"position":2},"title":"Why was Abram rewarded for lying to Pharaoh?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read Genesis 12:1-20 and I'm a little perplexed by it. Abram bent the truth concerning Sarai by getting her to say she was his sister rather than his wife when they came into Egypt. I know she was his half-sister by his father, but it was still\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67952,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-bound-by-a-childhood-promise\/","url_meta":{"origin":89826,"position":3},"title":"Am I bound by a childhood promise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Mr. Hamilton. When Jesus says, \"Let your yes be yes and your no be no\" in Matthew 5:37, he means that Christians ought to be people who keep their word, whether they formally call it a vow or swear an oath. If Jill tells Jack, \"Yes, I will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4148,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/good-intentions\/","url_meta":{"origin":89826,"position":4},"title":"Good Intentions","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Garry Floyd","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46441,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/intentions-wont-get-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":89826,"position":5},"title":"Intentions Won’t Get It!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dee Bowman Some of the proverbial expressions not found in the Bible are nonetheless true. The truth will always plumb with all other truth; it cannot contradict itself. Take the expression \"the road to hell is paved with good intentions.\" That's not found in the Scriptures, but it's nonetheless\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}