“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” — Ephesians 5:15-17 (NLT)

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During Indiana University’s improbable run to the college football national championship earlier this year, one of the things that was noted about quarterback Fernando Mendoza was his intentionality. Unlike many of his younger generation, Mendoza lives his life extremely deliberately — he is passionate about his faith, he doesn’t have social media, and he treats others with a level of genuine interest that is surprising.

During one of Indiana’s playoff games, a commentator was mentioning how unusual it is that someone of his caliber would grace the college sports scene, and he went on to speak about Mendoza’s thought process when transferring from UC Berkeley to Indiana. Once he knew his transfer was going through, he began studying not only the playbook but also the names of all of his soon-to-be teammates so that, upon arrival, he could address them all individually by name. He also applied the same mentality when he went to the Heisman Trophy presentation, learning the names of all the past winners so he could recognize them personally when he interacted with them.

Obviously, Mendoza has chosen to live his life on purpose. He has put intention and deliberate action behind all that he does because he wants to leave an impact that is bigger than just the Xs and Os of football. He wants to touch lives, and he knows that in order to go that extra distance and create that impact, he needs to build a life that allows for and is reflective of that.

But let me bring this home for you: Are you living on purpose? Are you building a life that is intentional?

You were created with the sole aim of reflecting the image of God. That is your ultimate purpose. And when we look at the life of Jesus, one of the things we notice right away was His intentionality. Of course, Jesus knew everything about everyone because He is the Son of God, but there was a deliberate and purposeful way in which He went about seeing and interacting with others that showed the heart of His Father.

As sons and daughters of the same Father, it’s becoming of us that we do the same. I heard a Messianic Jewish rabbi say a while ago that, because so much of Jesus’s life would’ve been on foot, most of His work would’ve occurred at about 3 miles per hour. And how much of our life is lived at a pace way faster than that, leaving us little time or room to create that sort of purposefulness that He lived with while He was on earth?

So much of the time we’re racing around trying to save time when, in reality, we’re losing out on the most important things because we’ve lost touch with what it means to live as reflectors of the intentional heart of God.

When we pause and listen to someone, when we go out of our way to make them feel noticed and heard and loved, when we look for ways to be all-present and give our undivided attention to other image-bearers of God, we bring a little bit of the Heavenly Kingdom down to earth. Will it take some sacrifice in other areas to make the time or have the energy to live this way? Totally. But will it also be eternally worth it? Every single time.

— Katherine Singer

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