This One Thing 4th & Final in a series on lifestyle choices
Quick review —
David Gushee recently wrote,
“I first started writing opinion pieces over 30 years ago.
One reason I did so was because I was affected by the example of Reinhold Niebuhr, the first Christian ethicist whom I studied very closely.
I learned that he tried to do it all, and pretty much did it all — teaching, lecture circuiting, writing serious books, writing popular books, doing political organizing/activism, and penning weekly opinion pieces.
I embraced the Niebuhr paradigm for how a Christian ethicist pursues this vocation. I was conscious of doing so.
It was a great ride for Niebuhr, and I enjoyed my version of it. But it has subtle costs, besides the toll on one’s health.
The main problem is that each one of the sub-vocations listed deserves more focus than is possible when one is trying to do all of them.”
— We’ve spent the last several days on this, with good reason: There is another way to live than being overwhelmed with all the demands on us, whether they’re imposed by others or self-inflicted.
We can lean today towards where David Gushee’s confession points us.
Only then can we begin to sign our names to Philippians 3:14 where St. Paul writes, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. That’s his priority.
By definition there can be only one priority. Everything else is subservient to that.
Our old friend St. Paul was even so bold as to preface his press on concept with the label this one thing I do. (Philippians 3:13)
Or, as The Message version renders that section,
I’m not saying
that I have this all together, that I have it made.
But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ,
who has so wondrously reached out for me.
Friends, don’t get me wrong:
By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this,
but I’ve got my eye on the goal,
where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus.
I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
— Philippians 3:12-14
Who’s in?
joescheets 