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This One Thing A tall, lanky Texan in a ten-gallon hat and fancy cowboy boots waltzed up to the ticket agent at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and said, "Ma’am, I’d like you to sell me a first-class ticket." The agent asked, "But where to, sir?" The Texan replied, "It don’t really matter, ma’am, I got bidness everywhere." There’s nothing wrong with having business everywhere. But most worthwhile achievements are the result of many small steps in a single direction. The apostle Paul said, "I do all things for the sake of the gospel." If we want our lives to count for God, we must choose our top priority and stay with it. Singleness of purpose focuses our life and gives it direction so that our goals do not become an unrelated string of hollow victories. Not long ago I found it necessary to get away for a weekend. For months I had been feeling the mounting pressures of increased clinical responsibilities after two of my colleagues resigned. With two young children at home and unrelenting deadlines to meet, there was no convenient time to shut down. But from past experience, I knew that those times when I felt like I could least afford to get away were also the times when I needed it the most. By taking time off to check and see if I was heading in the right direction, I came back with a renewed commitment to what God had called me to do. One reason why many Christians do not make a spiritual impact is that they are going in too many directions. They are quick to jump on the latest religious bandwagon, or hop from program to program in pursuit of the thrill of spiritual highs. This flurry of intense activity may create an illusion of fruitfulness, but on closer scrutiny, there is often nothing but barrenness. As Eric Hoffer once observed, "The feeling of being hurried is not the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything elsewe are the busiest people in the world."
Gertrude Stein, the American writer, owned two Picassos. She used to tell her friends, "If the house were on fire and I could take only one picture, it would be those two." Many of us waffle in our spiritual commitments because we have not taken the time to develop strong personal convictions about what is truly important. It is much easier to add one more thing to our overcrowded schedule than to make the tough choice of deciding whether or not it fits in with God’s purpose for our life. Even when it comes to serving God, we often have difficulty making up our minds regarding where to put our shoulder to the plow. Thus, we latch onto the first "good" thing to come along until something else catches our spiritual fancy. Or we allow ourselves to be swayed by appeals to our emotion and the pressing need of the moment. But there is time in life for only one passion. So take care to choose wisely. Don’t squander the best years of your life on that which cannot withstand the test of time and eternity (I Cor. 3:12-13). Otherwise you will look back with regret because of how little you’ve accomplished. Jesus said, "I came to seek that which was lost." His life was ordered by this objective. Everything He did or said was part of a larger patternit had significance because it contributed to the ultimate purpose of His life: to redeem the world. He was never in a hurry, but not for one moment did He lose sight of His goal. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it." (Matt.13:44-46). Does your life pulsate with a passion? Does that passion have anything to do with God’s redemptive purpose? Once you have embraced His Kingdom agenda, there must be a willingness to sacrifice many things in order to gain the one thing. Take another look at your schedule. Ask yourself if the things you are committed to are really bringing you closer to your objective. Then rearrange your priorities accordingly and develop a bull dog tenacity in your pursuit of God’s purpose for your life. Remember that decisions, not desires, are what ultimately determine our destiny.§ |
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