Do you believe you are fulfilling the purpose for which God created you? Are you fulfilled in your life and in your relationship with God?
Perhaps one reason why so many Christians are not enjoying the rich life that Christ promises is because they are not making that rich life the one thing they are pursuing in their lives.
Gary Moon, in his book entitled, Falling for God, asks a closely related question. “Do you ever feel that no matter how hard you try or how much you desire it, the bountiful life Jesus promised continues to elude you?… I believe that 99 out of 100 Christians rarely enjoy the rich life that Christ promised; they live, instead, lives of silent resignation.” That’s a valuable opinion based on many years of life experience as a Christian psychologist.
Perhaps, though, a well-designed research study would prove to be false the claim that Christians “rarely enjoy the rich life that Christ promised.” However, Christian researcher George Barna, based on scientific research (in Growing True Disciples), has this to say about the focus of the lives of most Christ followers: “Eight out of every ten believers are more likely to count upon dimensions of life other than spirituality as the springboard to success and meaning…. The infrequent adoption of spiritual maturity as the driving focus of life suggests that to most believers their faith is a ‘bonus’ or an add-on dimension of their life rather than the priority around which everything in their life revolves.” Perhaps one reason why so many Christians are not enjoying the rich life that Christ promises is because they are not making that rich life the one thing they are pursuing in their lives.
Scripture has a lot to say about the importance of willing one thing, from Jesus’ exhortation to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” to his declaration that “no one can serve two masters,” to James saying we should not be double minded. But perhaps the most important statement in Scripture about willing one thing comes from the interaction between Jesus and Martha in Luke Chapter 10: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. Only one thing is important. Mary has chosen the better thing [sitting at the feet of Jesus], and it will never be taken away from her” (emphasis added).
While we are in danger of multitasking the purpose of our lives, it is clear that God wants one thing for us: Isaiah 43:7 says, “They are my own people, and I created them to bring me glory” (TEV). Human beings find their fulfillment in manifesting God’s glory and “the best way humans manifest God’s glory is through resembling God’s son” (Eric Johnson, Foundations for Soul Care.) Which leads John R.W. Stott to say, “The eternal and ultimate purpose of God by His Spirit is to make us like Christ.” And Dallas Willard challenges us to know that there is only one way to become like Christ: “My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing—by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself” (Spirit of the Disciplines).
When we put all the puzzle pieces out on the table together, a picture of the relationship between God’s glory and our fulfillment emerges. God has created us such that the most fulfilling way to live our lives is to will one thing: to glorify God by becoming like Christ by living like Christ.
It has been said that the secret of life is to “make the main thing the main thing.” But that concept doesn’t go far enough. The secret of life is to make the one thing the one thing. Do we dare organize our entire lives around this one thing? My unceasing prayer has become simply this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, give me the purity of heart to will one thing: to glorify God the Father by becoming like Christ the Son by living like Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!”