I is for INTENTIONAL

In order for us to be intentional, we need to be able to answer some questions. These questions should include some of life's big questions. "What is God doing?" is a big question. Perhaps a bigger question would be, "Where is God going with history?" Or in other words, "Is there an overarching purpose that God is after?" Then, if I know where God is going, how should I join Him? What's my part? How then do I live? If we can broadly, but honestly, answer these questions, we can be intentional. Being intentional has to have a purpose. Thus, it is both a map and a compass. One cannot have one without the other.

Being intentional assumes obedience
Obedience to a purpose, or, better yet, to the God behind the purpose is required for us to be intentional. We make decisions and choices, as we live life now, that reflect intention. How we invest and prioritize our life now collectively supports God's good and perfect will on this earth. Being intentional is being decisive and reckless in our obedience to God and His purpose.It is action oriented; it never stalls in the thinking process. It has to always translate into action. How we do anything intentionally is how we will do everything intentionally.

Being intentional assumes our hope is in building treasures in heaven
Though there may not be an immediate return of our intentional investment and choices, being intentional requires us to have faith in the future and in building up of treasures in heaven. It is supposed to stretch our faith in God. We must develop bifocal vision by having our sites set both on the future—building treasures in heaven—and on the ground in every day decision-making processes.

Being intentional requires us to discern and discover
We must be able to discern not only where we need to "die to ourselves," but also discover where we need to be fully alive. There is ample room for us to discover ourselves and contribute to the overall purpose of God by finding our part in it. This process requires discovering our passions, where our "deep gladness" is, because it ultimately matters to God and to the world. So take time to discover what your deep gladness is and be intentional with that passion!

At the same time, embrace failures and pain. We almost always learn more by doing things wrong than we do by doing things right. So being intentional means that we don't run away from hurts, wounds, pain, and failures. We embrace them and learn from them. Only when we learn to embrace our own brokenness, will we be able to embrace the broken world.

Written by Chong Kim
Office of the General Director, Frontier Ventures