"ONE THING IS NEEDFUL"

LIFE in the Truth ought to be the most satisfying and fulfilling way of life available to anyone living on this planet. That's a bold statement to start with. To substantiate it, let's begin by thinking for a moment of some of the things people generally agree go together to make a satisfying and fulfilling life. These are not in order of merit.

In most people's minds these ten items add up to a satisfying and fulfilling life. It's sad how few people actually achieve even half of them. They fail to balance it out in most cases. That's why I was careful to say for the last item: Enjoyment that doesn't rob us of any of the above. So often people go for an enjoyment, or the extreme of an enjoyment, that will cancel out one or more of the other vital factors for a successful life.

The man who enjoys living just for the moment is likely to wake up one morning feeling his life has no sense of purpose, which could in turn affect his emotional and mental health with the onset of depression. The woman who goes for the enjoyment of an extra-marital affair drives a steam-roller through the relationships department of her life. The man who enjoys gambling may not have sufficient money to pay for necessities. And in many other smaller and bigger ways people mess things up for themselves and fail to live satisfying lives. 

But to achieve all ten of those items (or a good percentage of them), the remarkable truth is that you don't have to strive for them all. You don't in fact have to strive for any of them. You have to concentrate on one thing only. All you need to focus your attention on is your spiritual life. 

Read, discover, believe and, most importantly, be permanently filled with the following spiritual truths: that you can cast all your cares upon God because He cares for you (1 Pet.5:7); that if you spend your time looking for righteousness and the way to the Kingdom of God you don't have to worry about having sufficient food and clothing, these things will come (Matt.6:33); that God knows all the things you have need of, whatever they are, before you even ask Him about them (Matt.6:8) because He keeps a very close watch over you (Matt.10:30,31); that all things work together for good in the lives of those who pay attention to their spiritual life (Rom.8:28). 

Once these truths take root you're well on your way to attaining everything you need for a satisfying and fulfilling life. Because those very needs are fulfilled as a by-product of the spiritual life. As is sometimes said of happiness: you don't achieve it by directly striving for it, it generally comes as a by-product of doing other things. The pursuit of happiness puts happiness forever in the future. Be like the wise old tomcat who realizes that when he stops chasing his tail it follows him around anyway.  Don't chase after all the things you think will bring happiness; simply focus on your spiritual life and those things will take care of themselves–– and the happiness will follow.

"One thing is needful," said Jesus.

"This one thing I do," said Paul

In Luke 10:38-42 Jesus said to Martha that she was "careful and troubled about many things" she reckoned  were of great importance. She was busy in the kitchen getting food ready for Christ and his disciples who'd just descended on the house. But her sister Mary was eager first of all to know about spiritual things. Rather than disappear into the kitchen, Mary grasped the opportunity to listen to the Truth from the lips of Jesus. Preparing food could wait ––this was an unmissable experience!  She chose the one thing that was needful, and Jesus told her so.  

I'm not saying that everyday chores should be ignored. That you should let your house turn into a dump, and give up feeding the children, just so that you can spend your whole time soaking up spiritual truths. I'm sure that wasn't the extreme lesson Jesus was trying to teach Martha.

The lesson is surely that we can trust God that the mundane things will fall into place if we put spiritual matters first.  Martha felt that if she didn't get on with preparing the food then nothing would get done. "I haven't got time to sit around talking!" She thought it was vital that the meal was organised immediately. No it wasn't! They wouldn't starve. Somehow they would all have eaten. A little late maybe, but so what! Martha might starve, however, of needful spiritual food if she continued to busy herself with chores at the expense of her spirituality.

How could anyone pass up a unique opportunity to hear the wisdom of the Master himself in order to slice bread or cook meat!  Imagine having Jesus himself in your front room talking about the meaning of life, and you go off and get busy in the kitchen! If you could let such an opportunity as that slip, what would it say about your general enthusiasm for spiritual things? What did it say about Martha's? She had a wrong attitude. She was never going to find fulfilment in life by relegating her spirituality to second place behind the daily grind. So many people say they are too busy for God. So many people are unhappy! And often they keep busy to avoid facing the fact that they are unhappy. To break free, just one thing is needful. The Marthas (and their male equivalents) need to pay attention to their spiritual life. 

Always it can be said, whatever the situation, "one thing is needful"– trust in God. Lesser matters will fall into place. And remember, everything else is a lesser matter. 

In Philippians 3:13,14 Paul said, "This one thing I do ... I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Spiritual health was Paul's primary aim in life. Not, of course, that he never did anything else. He travelled, he wrote letters, he even found time to make tents, and did a lot of other things besides. But everything else he did was secondary to the over-ruling passion of his life. The one thing that he did above all else was give attention to his spiritual life. 

Therefore we say that life in the Truth, the spiritual life, ought to be the most satisfying and fulfilling life for any man or woman. God, who created us and continually sustains us, teaches us by His Word how best to live the life He has given us.

Red and green lights

The Bible is the Book of how to do it––for life. Because like most things there's a right way and a wrong way to do it, a safe way and a dangerous way.

When you're driving a car you keep to the instruction book called the Highway Code (well, hopefully you do!). If you have any sense you don't drive regardless of it, saying to yourself: "Why should I stop at red lights?––I'm going to ignore them. I don't have to stop! Nobody tells me what to do."

BANG! You stop. You have hit another car.

The Bible has a lot of 'red lights' in it. They are all those Thou shalt nots and don't do this and thats. They are there for our safety and protection. But they make a lot of people dislike God's Word. "It's so full of restrictions."

How come so very few people take the same attitude to the Highway Code? You don't hear people saying, "I can't take it, it's so full of don'ts: Don't cross red lights, don't pull out without looking, don't park on crossings." We know these don'ts are there for our own safety and the safety of others. And so it is with all the don'ts in the Bible. You can go through a whole lot of Bible red lights, ignoring them cavalier fashion. You'll probably be 'lucky' for a while and get away with it. You'll have a few near misses and might even think it quite exciting.  But as sure as 'eggs is eggs' your 'luck' will run out one day, and, BANG!––you're in serious trouble.

Bible don'ts are the red lights put there for our safety. But there are a whole lot of green lights in the Bible, too. In fact all the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit are green lights. It tells us so, right there in Galatians 5:23 where the fruit is detailed that these are things "against which there is no law." There's no law against peace, joy, faith, and all the others. All green lights. Do these. It's safe for you to go this way.

The One who authored the instruction book knows. The One who created us knows the best way for us to go. He tells us in His Word how best to live the lives He has given us.  And we can prove that to ourselves by learning and living what His Word has to teach us. We're not left to muddle through this life in frustration and ignorance, living "lives of quiet desperation," to quote the words of Henry Thoreau, which he said, "the mass of men lead." Life is meant to be a whole lot better than that!  

You can have all that is necessary for a satisfying life when you follow the way of the Spirit.

So what's the catch?

But there's a catch––or at least what seems to be a catch. It's more of a rider really. We had to emphasize that word ought when we said earlier that life in the Truth ought to be the most satisfying way of life. Because often, in conversation with fellow believers, one gets the distinct impression that they don't feel too overjoyed about their life in the Truth much of the time. Sometimes they say bluntly that life is giving them too many hard knocks. So what has gone wrong? And why do so many believers seem to live well below their spiritual potential? 

The two main reasons I've come across (to be honest, experienced!) are the problem of trials, and the problem of vagueness about spiritual development.

Trials

Trials are the "catch" or rider I mentioned earlier. While it's true that God says He will do many things to help those who seriously pursue the spiritual path through life, the rider is that He will also test everyone who travels that path. "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" (Heb.12:6,7).  

We don't take too well to chastening, do we? We didn't like it when our parents inflicted it on us "for your own good" when we were children, and quite naturally we react against it when our Heavenly Father inflicts it when we become His children. We doubted that it was really all for our own good when our parents did it; we suspected that it was sometimes done for their good! If they dealt sharply with us, they had a quieter life, because we were put in our place. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews makes this very point: "For they [our parents] for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he [God] for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." 

We will be tested with problems and difficulties. And these tests will always hit us in one or more of those ten items we mentioned earlier that go to make a satisfying life. What's more, the test will probably hit us where it hurts the most. For the indications are that God tests believers through the very things they prize the most: sufficient money perhaps, or health, or self-esteem.  There's a case in the New Testament (Luke 18:18-23) where this principle comes to light. A man described as a rich young ruler went to Christ and asked what he should do to inherit eternal life.

What do you lack? 

This ruler was already keeping the commandments, or so he claimed, yet he felt he lacked something. Or perhaps, which is likely, he wanted to know what new thing Jesus was teaching that he should do over and above what the Law of Moses already required of him. Wasn't that Law enough? Was Jesus saying he needed more than that? The young man said he already kept all the commandments of the Law. So what did he lack? As expected, Jesus went instantly to the heart of the matter. "Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich" (Luke 18:22,23).

The man was already on the spiritual path. He was observing the law, and we assume he made a genuine enquiry of Jesus, but there was an area of his life in which he was vulnerable. He lacked one thing which was needful: a truly full commitment to the spiritual path.

He had not yet faced an unpleasant truth about himself, that his wealth was more important than his spirituality. All the while he had everything he needed, he felt secure in his religion. But if his religion made demands that might be fatal to his wealth, he would rather side with his wealth. He believed that to lose his money was more than he could cope with. It wasn't of course, and Jesus would not have suggested he part with it if it were completely out of the question. We don't know how the story ended. The last we see of the man is his droopy-shouldered departure from Jesus. I like to think that God later re-tested him in this area of his wealth, and proved to him that he could cope: that he found treasure in heaven when he got his priorities straightened out––and was not exactly destitute as a result, as he feared.

Don't misunderstand me. We don't all have to give everything we have to the poor in order to follow the spiritual path. The point being made is that we are better off doing without whatever blocks our progress along the path. The man's attachment to his wealth was the problem, not the wealth itself. Your problem may not be wealth, even if you have it. You may need testing in an entirely different area.

God certainly tests believers, and this is one reason why many believers are less than content with life in the Truth. So often, I'm sure, we fail to learn the lesson that comes to us. So often we don't see the problem on our path as a test from God, but think of it instead as just one of life's hard knocks that we have to suffer and that drags us down. So we don't rise above it.  We don't learn anything about ourselves––except, perhaps, that we're pretty useless at trying to live the Truth, which is not what God is attempting to show us! Consequently there is no spiritual development, no fruit of the Spirit; there is only complaint and dissatisfaction.

Being rightly exercised

The key verses on this subject of our trials are Hebrews 12:11-13:

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed."

All the turmoil and mental agitation of our trials, whatever they are, could give way to the peaceable (peaceful) fruit of righteousness, if only we would allow that to happen. If, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves and dispirited about life's set-backs (with our hands hanging dejectedly and our knees too feeble to move us ahead), we would only lift up those hands in prayer, and lift those knees (a figurative way of describing getting going along the spiritual path), then we would be healed, and not lame. 

Our present problems can seem like a rough and difficult road that we are stuck on. Spiritually, our knees are feeble and we're in danger of going lame as we tramp along this unfriendly terrain. That's how life seems sometimes, and we might even say, or feel like saying. "I can't go on." The way looks too hard.

But the answer is in our own hands (and feet). It is for us (and nobody else!) to "make straight the path of [our] feet." We have to take responsibility for our own spiritual progress. (It's not up to God to drag us along and make us develop spiritually.) The verses in Hebrews tell us we can do this by being rightly exercised by our problems. And how apt to say that our lameness and feebleness will be cured by exercise.

The spiritual muscle is like any other muscle in the body in the important sense that if we hardly use it, it becomes feeble and useless, and needs exercise to get it back into shape. People off their feet in hospital for long periods need to get the strength back in their legs before they can walk confidently. Unused muscles need exercise, or they may eventually atrophy and become totally useless.

The problems God puts our way are to strengthen our spiritual muscle, not weaken it. God will pick out the areas in our lives that need attention and send something to build us up in those areas. If we let the problems exercise us correctly, the outcome will be good. Undoubtedly.

The trouble is that we have a tendency to go lame when we hit rough patches. We don't allow ourselves to be exercised by them. We so easily let the hard times shake our faith instead of firming it up. But that's never God's intention for us when he tests and chastens us. His intention is that we should develop and grow spiritually. That we should in fact develop the fruit of the Spirit. And one of the aspects of the fruit is mentioned right there in those verses from Hebrews 12.

If we are exercised rightly by the chastening of the Lord "it yieldeth the peaceable [peaceful] fruit of righteousness." Righteousness means being right with God––which brings peace.

So the outcome of accepting the difficulties we face in life in the right spirit (spirit equals attitude here) is peace. Which makes perfect sense, doesn't it? If we see the hand of God in our problems, they cease, in reality, to be problems. They become exercises for learning, for strengthening our spiritual muscle. The Lord's chastening leads us, in fact, to develop the fruit of the Spirit.

Only peace is mentioned in those verses from Hebrews, but other aspects of the fruit will also be developed.

Though hold on just a moment...!

...Just think of the benefits of peace alone! So many people lack true peace in their lives in this age of anxiety. Having just that one aspect of the fruit will bring with it many of those things which most people agree are necessary for a fulfilled and satisfying life. Peace alone brings good emotional and mental health, which often leads to better physical health, which in turn makes us better able to enjoy life, to earn our living, and have other necessary things.

One thing is needful. Get the spiritual side of life right, and no matter what comes your way, good or 'bad', you'll see that it has God in it, and so it can't really be bad. You'll be able to handle it. It may not go away, but you'll be able to handle it. You'll be rightly exercised by it. And you'll discover you have all you need for a satisfying life. Keep in mind that the Bible says "all things work together for good" in the life of a believer, not that all things are good.

Man in a wheelchair

The other day I was walking home from the office and saw a young man in a wheelchair ahead of me on the path. He was moving slowly because of the incline and I soon caught up. As I passed by I saw how hard he was working with his arms to keep the wheelchair going. I wondered if I should help.

A short way ahead I turned and looked back to see how he was doing. The path was getting steeper and he was hardly moving forward at all. The wheelchair was going more from side to side than forwards. The young man was obviously struggling. I couldn't just walk off and leave him puffing his heart out!  So I walked back and said, "Can I give you a push up this steep bit?"

To my amazement he looked up, smiled, and between breaths said, "No thanks. This is good exercise."

Good exercise! I could hardly believe it. He was having a really tough time moving that chair up that slope. It looked like torture. But to him it was just "good exercise". He was actually enjoying himself!

What a good way that is to be about life. In fact, it's the only way for a true believer to be about life. Not to moan and complain when things are hard, but to smile and see them as good exercise. Does that sound impossible to you?  Well, it isn't. The Apostle Paul wrote in one of his letters about "glorying in tribulations" (Rom.5:3). That means being happy even when things are hard. Paul could be happy when life was difficult (as it certainly was sometimes) because he trusted that God was always with him. As he saw it, he didn't really have anything to worry about. All believers need to have that same truth engraved on their hearts. Whatever happens, God will look after us and see us through.  For us there are no events over which God does not have control, and nothing that is truly bad can happen to us. The 'bad' is merely "good exercise".

The other reason

We said there were two reasons why believers often live below their spiritual capabilities. One is that we don't learn from our problems, and we let them sap our spiritual and physical energy. The other is that we go through life with only a vague notion of what spiritual development is.

As a consequence we don't commit ourselves strongly enough to it. We blithely mark time in the Truth, thinking that just being in the Truth is all that matters. But it's not having the Truth that counts, it's what you do with it when you've got it! The transfer from being "in Adam" to being "in Christ" is only a transfer, it's not a transformation! The transformation of our character happens slowly afterwards, as we continue to apply our minds to spiritual things in a purposeful way—or it doesn't happen because we don't. Therefore we stagnate spiritually—and find life in the Truth rather less than fulfilling. 

This transformation of our character is the development of the fruit of the Spirit. It's as simple as that. And once we know that, we know what we're aiming for. Spiritual development ceases to be vague. It is the process of bringing the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit into our character.

And as we involve ourselves in this process, we learn one of life's greatest lessons. A God-given law of life comes into operation. We learn, as the fruit of the Spirit develops, that we can more easily handle the tests God puts our way. We lose those old feelings of stagnation, of being spiritually becalmed, that we may have had before. We lose any dissatisfaction with life in the Truth that being vague about our spiritual direction generates. We arrive at the wonderful conclusion that life in the Truth is the most satisfying and fulfilling way of life available to anyone living on this planet.

Hopefully, your journey through this book will help reinforce that conclusion for you. Or help you towards it.

One final point: Prosperity Theology

There is one final point I must make about spiritual living before closing this chapter. It is true that God looks after us when we focus on the one thing that is needful. But there is a school of thought that goes a lot further, and claims that the spiritual life will bring all sorts of superabundance into our lives––NOW!

This is known as Prosperity Theology. The claim is that if we can get ourselves rightly attuned to God's will for us, He will shower us with blessings, make us super rich, super healthy, super attractive, super confident.

The idea that following God will turn you into superman or superwoman is very appealing. But it has more to do with the American Dream than the promises of God. It's the message of many of the television evangelists of America and Canada—the sort of people who are now starting up television channels over here. And they seem to be getting a following in certain sections of the church.

It's as if the religion of the Bible had fallen into the hands of a clever advertising agency who'd seen a better way to market Christianity. Which probably isn't too wide of the mark. The message is: if you want to do well for yourself, be the sort of person you always dreamed of being, then Christianity is your answer. GOD WANTS YOU RICH is the sort of banner it marches under.

Like all the best untruths, like all the most appealing lies, there is an element of truth in it. Undoubtedly, our quality of life is greatly improved by the addition of a spiritual dimension, but we should not be looking for superstar status.

The satisfying and fulfilling life the Scriptures promise us now is not in that direction. True satisfaction and fulfilment are rarely found that way. That's why when I listed the ten things that go to make up the truly good life, I said sufficient food and money, good health and relationships etc., not SUPER-ABUNDANT! and EXCEL­LENT!

On being normal

Producing the fruit of the Spirit—the all-round Christian character—will not make us super-people with everything we ever dreamed of, but it will make us NORMAL PEOPLE. "Ah," I hear you say politely, a little unim­pressed. "What's so good about being normal?" What encouragement is there for me to gain the fruit of the Spirit if all it does for me is make me normal? Who wants to be just plain normal?  Doesn't everyone want to be special?

I happen to have a passion for normality. I think the normal should be pursued with great fervour. In fact I'd like us all to be excessively normal. This is because I believe, on the basis of what the Bible says, that normal is an awful lot more than most people experience. The majority of people undoubtedly operate below what God intended as normal for us.

One of the Proverbs says: "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain" (Prov.30:8,9). This applies to more things in life than money and food. This is the norm. This is what the fruit of the Spirit is geared to. Not lack, not superabundance, but sufficiency. And we can be certain that what God sees as sufficient will not be penny-pinching.

God, I'm sure, would love to shower us with unlimited blessings. He knows how to give good gifts to His children. And He gives us as much as He safely can without creating problems for us, without giving us things that will mis-shape our characters. As Jesus said: "What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?" (Matt.7:9,10 RAV). So why should we expect any less from our loving Father? The true version of normal is well above the subsistence levels in most areas of life––well above what passes for normal!

So I am all for being normal. Not so over-blessed in my wealth, possessions, wit, charm and abilities (no problems here, so far), that I forget my God; not so under-blessed that I carp and whinge at life's bad breaks, forgetting and cursing God in the process.

The fruit of the Spirit will not turn us into super people, the envy of the neighbours and toast of the town, but it will turn us into normal people in the sight of God.

So why be less than normal? Normal is, in fact, rather special. To be normal is to be extremely successful. It might even include material success– abundance in some aspects of life– but that isn't the purpose of travelling the spiritual path. It may come as a by-product of pursuing the real satisfaction and fulfilment that the one thing that is needful brings. Then again, material success may even come as a trial.

I know it's an old cliché that wealth doesn't bring happiness, but that makes it no less true. The casualties of success are legion. The 'successful' have everything––  including an aching void that says, "Is this all there is?" And unless they have something other than, and better than, wealth and success, they are doomed to enjoy neither.

Far better to make the finest qualities of character your goal in the first place. Go for what is normal, not what appears to be super normal. This book is not about becoming a superstar through Prosperity Theology. It's a book for those who aspire to achieve normality with God. Such unusually wise people will one day "shine as the stars for ever and ever" (Dan.12:3).