One Thing: A Call to Focus

We are pulled in many directions, no matter how old we are or what our occupations may be. Certain passages brought my attention to the need for one thing: a call to focus.

In Psalm 27:4, David wrote, "One thing I have asked of the LORD; that shall I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple."

David knew that this could not be where he would be physically, but it was where his heart was and what he called the "one thing" he "asked of the LORD": that his whole being would be wholly His.

In Luke 10:38-42, we see the Lord and His disciples visiting their friends, Martha and Mary: "Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came to Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.' But the Lord answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'"

Martha welcomed the Lord, but left Him for what she may have thought He wanted her to do: prepare Him a good meal. What a rebuke, then, for Martha to be told she is worried and bothered about so many things. Martha seems to have been focused on serving the Lord's physical needs, whereas Mary was more focused on learning spiritual truth from Him.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all recorded the encounter of the Lord with an anonymous man, the very rich ruler.

In Luke's account (18:18-24) we read this: A ruler questioned Him, saying, 'Good  Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER." And he said, 'All these things I have kept from my youth.' When Jesus heard this, He said to him, 'One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.' But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, 'How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!'"

As He does with all how meet Him, Jesus knew what kept that man from the kingdom. This is not Jesus telling any and every person who would follow Him to sell all they have and give the proceeds to the poor. This is Jesus pointing out the cost of following Him.

When I read Paul's letter to the Philippians, I am reminded of that very rich young man. In Philippians 3, we read Paul's testimony: "If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which in in the Law, found  blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of  the surpassing value to knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him; not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it it; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (3:4b-14)

This was not the response of the very rich ruler. However, Christ made all of Paul's accomplishments under the Law less than nothing to Paul. I think these were among the things he chose to forget as things that lay behind as he reached forward, pressing on toward that one thing: "the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  As those also in Christ, we need to focus on the same: that one thing, that call to focus.