Dear Christian,

Do you love the Lord with all your heart, yet it is not like it was when
you were first saved? In your active Christian life, do you fear you may
have left your first love?

In II Corinthians 11:3, the Apostle Paul wrote, "But I am afraid, lest
as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led
astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ". One of the
devil's main assaults in the life of believers is to lead us away from
the simplicity of devotion to Christ. The Christian life is not
complicated. It is we who often complicate it, with our self-effort, and
when we do it leads to much frustration. In actuality, the Christian
life includes a glorious single-hearted focus. That focus may be
expressed in this way: In the Christian life there are many by-products,
but there is only one goal. In other words, as Christians, there are not
many things we need to pursue, just one.

Now, you might be thinking,"How can that be? I have always heard that in
order to please God, there are many things I need to pursue, and there
are many things I need to work on." Well, remember, dear Christian, the
words of our precious Saviour to one of His beloved followers, Martha.
In the tenth chapter of Luke's gospel, we read that while she was,
"distracted, with all her preparations" Jesus said to her, "Martha,
Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a
few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good
part." These are amazing words! Jesus simply said that in life there is
only one thing necessary.

In the same chapter, we learn that Martha's sister, Mary, was pursuing
this one necessary thing. She was, "moreover listening to the Lord's
words, seated at His feet." On that day, Mary was intent on just one
thing; growing in a greater knowledge of Christ. Dear Christian, this is
the one thing necessary in the Christian life: Knowing the Lord Jesus.
We see this identical truth in Philippians 3:8, where Paul wrote,"This
one thing I do, I count all things as loss in view of the surpassing
value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." King David also wrote of it. In
Psalm 27:4, he poetically said,"One thing I have asked from the Lord,
and 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.

Moses, too, mentioned this truth as he prayed in Exodus 33:13, "Show me
Thy ways, that I may know Thee." And after Paul had walked with the Lord
for about thirty years, in Philippians 3:10, he prayed "that I may know
Him." Wouldn't you think that after thirty years of being a Christian,
Paul would have already known the Lord? He was referring to a
progressive union with Christ. The word "know" in Scripture means a lot
more than a gathering of facts. In the book of Genesis we read, "Adam
knew his wife and she bore a son." The word, "know" used in the Old
Testament when speaking of the physical intimacies of the marriage bond,
is the same word used in the New Testament when referring to a
believer's spiritual union with the Lord Jesus. Dear Christian, this is
the one thing necessary in the Christian life. This is the one goal:
Pursing an intimate knowledge of the person of Christ as revealed in the Bible.

In John's gospel, the Lord Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that they
may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent"
(Jn. 17:3). How may we describe life that is eternal? What is this life?
Its solitary theme is knowing the Lord! In the Christian life, dear
believer, there are not many things to work on; there are not many
things to seek after, just one, God Himself! To pursue anything else as
a goal, is to be, in the words of Christ to Martha, "distracted and
bothered about so many things."

Now one might ask, "Well if there is only one thing I have to do as a
Christian, what about everything else in the Christian life? What about
bearing the fruit of the spirit, or witnessing to the lost, or my
responsibilities to my spouse and my family and my friends and my job?
What about prayer, and stewardship, and living in obedience to God? How
do these things, plus a lot more, fit in to the Christian life?" Here is
how, dear believer; they are by- products. They are the outworkings that
spontaneously flow out of our lives as we pursue the one necessary
thing. All of these wonderful Christian responsibilities are not the
goal, they are what the Holy Spirit produces in us as we pursue the
goal. The by-products of the Christian life will come, but not as a
result of our seeking after them; they will come simply as effortless
results of knowing the Lord.

The Christian life is not seeking Jesus and the fruit of the Spirit, or
seeking Jesus and obedience, or seeking Jesus and soul winning. The
Christian life is seeking Jesus alone! And when we seek Jesus,
obedience, soul winning, and the fruit of the Spirit will come about in
our lives as a by-product of knowing Him. In the Christian life, the
moment we turn our heart's focus away from Jesus and start going after
love, or joy, or peace, or patience, or holiness, or ministry, we lose
these things. In the Christian life, the moment we stop pursuing Jesus
alone and start going after being a better parent, or being a better
neighbor or being a better spouse, we lose these things. Charles
Spurgeon, the great English preacher, put it this way; he said, "I
looked to Jesus and the dove of peace flew into my heart. I looked to
the dove of peace and it flew away." Keeping our heart-eyes on Jesus,
going after Him alone, is the key to genuine Christian living.
In Psalm One, the Holy Spirit compares the man who is trusting the Lord
to a tree. He says, "He will be like a tree firmly planted by rivers of
water, which yields fruit in its season." What a tremendous
illustration! How does a tree produce fruit? It produces fruit when its
roots enjoy relationship with the soil. Only as a tree draws from the
soil the nutrients it needs will it produce fruit. One thing you will
never see is an apple tree straining to produce fruit. And yet, this is
how we often try to bear fruit unto God. We toil and struggle, hoping
that by concentrating on fruit-bearing, we will bear fruit. But apple
trees, dear Christian, produce fruit spontaneously when their roots stay
firmly planted in the soil. We need to learn the lesson of the apple
tree! In nature, fruit is a natural by-product of life; and in our
spiritual life, fruit is a natural outworking. Only as we draw life from
our Saviour, and center our lives solely in Him, to know Him more, will
we bear fruit unto God.

There is what one might call apple-tree righteousness, where fruit is
the unforced result of knowing Jesus, but there is also what one might
call Christmas-tree righteousness. This is where everything in our lives
looks good but it is not real. Christmas trees have beautiful lights,
bulbs and tinsel, but it is just attached decoration; there is no life.
The best we believers can do through our own effort is produce
artificial fruit. This fruit may look very much like the real thing,
others may see it and applaud, but as soon as a strong wind of adversity
begins to blow over our lives the fruit will be exposed for the counterfeit it is.

Dear Christian, fruit is only real when it is produced by the Spirit of
God. That is why it is called "the fruit of the Spirit." It is
established by the Spirit in us as we sink the roots of our hearts
deeper into the Lord Jesus. As we set our hearts to know Him, fruit will
be produced in our lives, not by the work of our own hands but by the
work of the indwelling Christ.

May I encourage you, dear Christian, to be a Mary not a Martha. Resist
the temptation of a divided heart. Refuse to listen to the many voices
in our day encouraging us to run in a thousand different directions, by
going after many things. There are many worthwhile Christian activities
and ministries in which we may serve the Lord, but as wonderful as they
all may be, do not allow them to take the place of the one thing
necessary. Jesus wants to be preeminent in our lives, not prominent, not
one among many on the throne of our heart's affections, but our One and
only! As believers, we do not have many things to seek after, only one.
Set your heart, dear believer, to know the Lord as the only goal of your
Christian life.

For me, O Lord, the world is all too small,
For I have seen Thy face,
Where Thine eternal love irradiates all
Within Thy secret place.
And therefore from all others, from all else,
Draw Thou my soul to Thee,
Yea, Thou hast broken the enchanter's spells,
And I am free.

- G. Tersteegen

In His Amazing love,
Your brother In Christ