Intention

I've been going through the book of 1 Peter with a group of people on Thursday nights, and tonight as we read 1 Peter 4:1-2, I was struck by one word:

"Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin) so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God."

Intention.

Intention.

INTENTION.

As that word echoed in my head, I was convicted of the sort of passive, 'reactionary' attitude that I so often approach my day with. It is an unspoken, but clearly revealed through my actions attitude that says, 

"If someone asks me to help them, I will." 

"If I am asked to sin, I will turn it down." 

"If I have to suffer today, I will. "

Peter, however, says that we should arm ourselves with INTENTION to suffer as Christ did.

How different would my days look if I approached each one with the intention of putting my desires completely to the side, not just keeping them in check? With the intention of laying aside my own time, comfort, and wishes for the sake of Christ, rather than trying to tame them so that Christ can squeeze Himself in there?

This week at work, I'm judging essays for a competition, and part of the students' score is spelling and grammar. My high school English teacher drilled it into my head- AVOID passive voice (e.g. 'the ball was picked up by him')- it is WEAK compared to active voice (e.g. 'he picked up the ball'). As I read essay after essay full of passive voice, I thought about why it sounds so much weaker. I think it comes across as wimpy and weak because the picture it paints lacks intentionality. Active voice gives clarity and weight to the action and intention- passive voice makes things sound like they could be a coincidence.

Maybe I'm a little too much of a linguistics nerd and am thinking way too hard about this, but it helps me understand why the word 'intention' in 1 Peter 4:1 is so important. If we don't approach our days with the intention to suffer for Christ, then we run the risk of becoming reactionary Christians whose lives, then, look a lot like everyone else's- we help when we're asked, but not when we aren't. We share the Gospel when the perfect opportunity presents itself, but not when it is the least bit uncomfortable. We love when it is easy, but not when doing so would cause us grief and pain.  

But we are not called to live passively. 

 "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?"

-Matthew 5:46-

If our actions towards other are largely a response to their actions toward us, we are missing the mark.

We, those whom He saved, are told to arm ourselves with the intention to suffer, so that we will not live by human desires, but by the will of God. Christ didn't wait until we loved Him and came to Him. He loved us first, when we didn't deserve it, and He suffered and died for us when we rejected Him. 
We are told then to approach each day saying not, 

"I will suffer and sacrifice if the circumstances demand it," 

but

"I will plan and intend to suffer and lay down my life for Christ's sake today."

It is a hard and painful prayer to pray, but this is my desperate prayer for you and for me- 

that we might approach tomorrow and every day after it with that bold, sometimes terrifying intention and desire to suffer for His sake, knowing that He gave, gives, and will give the strength, mercy, and grace to do so.