The Only Thing We Really Need...

If I am going to set a goal, if I am going to develop a new habit at the beginning of this new year, my year of "Contemplate"; shouldn't it be a goal that:

compliments His leadings for me - 

develops a habit that has value beyond what I might see -

is something that transcends what I might (in my human frailty) miss because I am focused 

on a weakness or a need or a want that may loom in importance in my fallen heart, but miss the mark of what He has for me?

Shouldn't it be a goal or habit that reaches beyond what I can do in my own strength?  That must tap into His power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20)?  That releases in us something immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine?

 And couldn't this goal have eternal value, for "... physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." (1 Timothy 4:8 NIV)?

Out of all the voices clamoring for our attention in these days, how does anyone really know what the one thing they need is?  Just for fun, I typed "the one thing we need" into my google search window and got....

2,300,000,000 results!

(and I hadn't posted this yet, so add "one" to that number!) 

 

 "One thing" typed into my favorite online Bible program yielded only 6 results, with 4 being applicable to me today:

Psalm 62:11(NIV) One thing God has spoken,

Where is your quiet road taking you?

           two things have I heard:

           that you, O God, are strong,

           12and that you, O Lord, are loving...

Philippians 3:13(NAS) Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

John 9:25 (NIV) He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” 

Psalm 27:4 (NAS) One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall 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. 

These are my true "goal-setting" questions:

What do these verses teach me about the one thing I desire?

What is the one thing God desires of me?

Is there one thing that satisfies the criteria listed above?

Which direction is He quietly leading in?

The Psalm 62 passage guides towards the "one thing" - 

there is one thing is that the Lord does...

He speaks!

and that leads to the  

one thing we really need:

 that is...

to hear Him!

  

That was His first desire in all of Creation, to share Himself with us, and when that sweet fellowship was severed in the fall, He came seeking and SPEAKING to restore what was lost...and our first mother and father heard!  And in His dealings with His creation ever since, He has reached out to us through speaking - and those we regard as heroes....h.e.a.r.d...

That one thing, that habit, that goal which facilitates my contemplation, that encompasses the enormity of Him, that has the ability to transcend my feebleness AND my misguided "strengths", that has a benefit for this life and the one to come ...

is developing my hearing ear for His constant, guiding, seeking, healing, restorative voice.

Ancient doors leading to new possibilities...