Everyone knows the saying: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. This saying points to a difference between people’s intentions and actions. People’s actions are not always aligned with their intentions. A person can have a good intention, but do something that will contradict that good intention. “My intentions were for the best. I just wanted to help,” they say.

Sometimes we have to judge ourselves based on our actions because we are what we do. Some people are good at doing this (but only with other people). As they cannot see inside a person to know what their intention is, they judge the action. This shows that they are good at pointing out other people’s mistakes, but they have somewhat biased judgments of themselves. However, when you go to court, you are judged by actions, facts and evidence (not intentions).

As the apostle, Paul observed, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:19). He spoke of this conflict between actions and intentions. And our war is exactly to align these two: to put the intentions in the right place and to follow them with matching actions. For example, if you love your wife, you will not do what you feel, you will do what matches with love. It’s like that husband who is already settled in bed and gets up to get the glass of water that his wife asked for. He doesn’t feel like it, but he does.

The same is regarding God because the Bible says that the devil himself believes in God (James 2:19). This is an extreme case between what a being has inside and what he externalises with actions. There are also people who, like the demons, say that they believe in God with intentions (they are convinced that their faith is real), but when you observe their actions, what is seen does not match with what was spoken.

So, assess your intentions first to see if what you want is good and right. Then check your actions (if they align with those good intentions). Fix that and your life will be more successful. You can follow the full message in the video above.