One ThingSample

The One Thing Worth Pursuing

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more” (Phil 3:4, ESV).

Christianity was spreading like wildfire, lighting up pockets of new believers throughout Jerusalem and beyond. Saul, a devout Jewish Pharisee, saw this as a threat. He made it his mission to stomp out these hot spots of misguided believers and throw them in prison.

On his way to Damascus to arrest followers of “the Way,” he encountered the risen Christ. Shining in heavenly glory, Jesus blinded Saul, and he fell to the ground.

With a trembling voice, he asked, “Who are you, Lord?”

A voice answered, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5, ESV).

Saul wasn’t just throwing Christians in prison; he was persecuting Jesus himself. While Saul knew the Law and sat at the feet of the most renowned Rabbis, he failed to see Jesus as the glorious fulfillment of the Old Testament.

Now the risen Christ stood before him, and he was undone. His spiritual blindness resulted in temporary physical blindness, and for three days, he neither ate nor drank.

Ironically, it was the blinding light on the Damascus road that opened Saul's eyes to the person and work of Christ. Saul, later named Paul, tried to stamp out the fire of Christianity, but he would also be the one to fan it into flame through his writing and missionary journeys. Paul’s epistles spread the Word of God from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, just as Jesus had said it would (Acts 1:8).

When Paul later wrote to the church in Philippi, he remembered his past life and how he had persecuted the church. He determined to make his one thing, forgetting what was behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead (Phil. 3:13-14). Paul made one thing the primary focus of his life—knowing and loving Jesus.

Like Paul, your background may have given you a high regard for God’s Word, but you need to be freshly undone by it. You can love learning, but miss the awe and majesty of encountering Jesus. The living words of Christ invite you not only to study but to see Jesus in all his glory.

Let’s make Paul’s “one thing” our own. Let go of the past and let your study of Scripture lead you beyond information to adoration. Time in his Word can be your holy leisure, the one thing you pursue with all your heart that sets your soul ablaze.