18 Bible Verses About Being Intentional

Luke 14:28

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”

Reflection: Jesus turned to the large crowds travelling with him and told two short parables: a man building a tower, and a king deciding whether his ten thousand men can meet an army of twenty thousand. Both sit down first and reckon. Jesus applies the parables in verse 33 to following him: “those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

Proverbs 21:5

“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”

Reflection: The proverb sets haste against the plans of the diligent and gives each its outcome: profit for the diligent, poverty for the hasty.

Proverbs 6:6-8

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.”

Reflection: The ant is the example held up to the sluggard. It has “no commander, no overseer or ruler,” yet it stores food in summer for the months ahead. The verses that follow turn to the sluggard still asleep and warn that poverty “will come on you like a thief.”

Proverbs 16:3

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”

Reflection: Proverbs 16 opens with “To humans belong the plans of the heart” (16:1) and returns to the thought in 16:9: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Between them, this verse tells the reader to commit the work itself to the Lord. The verse just before it, 16:2, says the Lord weighs motives.

Proverbs 19:21

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Reflection: Human plans are many, and the Lord’s purpose is the one that “prevails.” The proverb sets the two side by side and says which stands, the same point Proverbs 16:9 makes about a person’s course and steps.

James 4:13-15

“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.””

Reflection: James addresses traders who announce their year in advance: which city, how long, what business, what profit. He answers that they do not know what tomorrow will bring and that a life is “a mist.” His remedy in verse 15 keeps the plan and adds a condition, and verse 16 names the fault as boasting in “arrogant schemes.”

Philippians 3:13-14

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Reflection: Paul says he has not yet taken hold of what he pursues and names “one thing” he does. The Greek word translated goal, skopos, means a mark or target. Verse 12 says where the pursuit began: Paul presses on “to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”

1 Corinthians 9:26

“Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.”

Reflection: The picture comes from athletics. Paul reminds the Corinthians that everyone who competes in the games goes into “strict training” for a crown that will not last, while he runs for one that “will last forever.” Therefore he does not run aimlessly, and in verse 27 he disciplines his body so that he will not be “disqualified for the prize.”

Colossians 3:23

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”

Reflection: The command is addressed to slaves (3:22), who are told to work “not only when their eye is on you” but “with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.” Work done with the whole heart is done for the Lord whoever is watching, and verse 24 gives the reason: “It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Titus 3:14

“Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.”

Reflection: The verse comes in the closing lines of Paul’s letter to Titus, straight after a practical request: help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need (3:13). Doing good is something the church “must learn,” and its aim is named: meeting urgent needs.

Ephesians 5:15-16

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

Reflection: “Be very careful, then” follows Paul’s call to “live as children of light” (5:8). The phrase “making the most of every opportunity” translates the Greek exagorazo, to buy back or redeem, which the King James Version renders “redeeming the time.” Verse 17 says what the care involves: “understand what the Lord’s will is.”

Colossians 4:5-6

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

Reflection: Paul has just asked the Colossians to pray that he may proclaim the message “clearly, as I should” (4:4). He then turns to their own dealings with outsiders, using the same verb as Ephesians 5:16 for making the most of every opportunity, and asks for speech “seasoned with salt” so that they know how to answer each person.

Proverbs 15:28

“The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil.”

Reflection: The righteous person weighs an answer before giving it, and the wicked person’s mouth “gushes” evil. The proverb contrasts considered speech with speech that pours out, the same concern Colossians 4:6 has in knowing “how to answer everyone.”

Proverbs 4:23

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Reflection: A father is instructing his son, and after urging him to keep his words “within your heart” (4:21), he puts the heart first of all, since everything a person does flows from it. The verses that follow move outward to mouth, eyes and feet: “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways” (4:26).

Romans 12:2

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Reflection: The verse follows Paul’s appeal to offer bodies “as a living sacrifice” (12:1). Being “transformed by the renewing of your mind” has a stated result: the ability to “test and approve” God’s will.

Philippians 4:8

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Reflection: Paul lists what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable and tells the Philippians to “think about such things.” Verse 9 moves from thinking to action: what they have learned and seen in him they are to “put it into practice,” with the promise that “the God of peace will be with you.”

Colossians 3:2

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Reflection: The command rests on 3:1: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is.” Verse 3 gives the reason for setting the mind there: “your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

1 Peter 1:13

“Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.”

Reflection: Where the NIV has “with minds that are alert and fully sober,” the King James Version reads “gird up the loins of your mind.” Peter aims the alert, sober mind at one hope, the grace brought when Jesus Christ is revealed, and verse 15 turns it into conduct: “be holy in all you do.”