Just One Thing...
Is it just me? Or have you noticed a particular trend on social media?
5 Foods Never to Eat after the Age of 459 Things Extremely Successful People Do After Work
20 Things every Twenty-something Should Know How to do
7 Things You Totes Need to Stop Saying If You’re Over 30
5 Things Super Successful People do Before 8 AM
Are you overwhelmed yet? Would you read ANY of these lists and actually believe that the insight could change your life in any significant way?!
What other lists are out there with the guarantee to change some aspect of your obviously less than perfect life? How about these …
37 Things You’ll Regret When You’re Old
10 Things Successful People Do on Monday Mornings
23 Signs You Are Secretly An Introvert
36 Things That Are Going to Make You Feel Ancient
18 Things Everyone Should Start Making Time for Again
It’s true … I spotted all of these condescending, brilliant, too-good-to-be true lists on Facebook in a 24-hour period.
I timed myself.
When I realized that I saw this hysterical trend developing, I decided to make my own lists of lists.
There I sat … paralyzed by the glow from my computer screen with a pen and piece of notebook paper beside me. Every time a new list popped up, I read and documented said list.
For 24 hours I made my own list of the epidemic lists that I saw posted on social media. And what you have read today is the kind of stuff that my desperate friends were posting. Oh … but I’m not done yet …
10 Reasons I Keep My House Clean
5 Ways to Be Unsatisfied with Your Church
10 Marriage Tips Every Wife Needs to Hear
20 Things My Mom Was Right About
6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person
You are either highly frustrated right now … feel like a miserable failure knowing that you will never amount to anything at all … or … like me … you are laughing hysterically!!
Can you do it … can you read just a few more of the titles of lists that I discovered on social media? And then I will get to my point … I promise!
Top 10 Mistakes Christian Parents of Teens Make
32 Cheap and Easy Backyard Ideas that are Borderline Genius
10 Things Successful People Do Differently To Reach Their Dreams
But I have saved the very best for last:
2014 Is Going To Be My Year Now That I Know These 89 Genius Solutions to Simple Problems
Stop gagging RIGHT NOW … because I have one significant thing to say to you!
All you really need is Jesus. All you really need is more of Him and more of His presence.
For me, this has never been and will never be a get-rich quick scheme or a religious platitude. It is not a spiritual band-aid nor is it a condescending panacea.
Knowing Jesus gives me a life bigger than life. Spending time in His dear presence is all I need to battle any giant … move any mountain … or discover any wisdom or truth.
Spending my life knowing Him … loving Him … giving to Him … talking to Him … listening to Him … is better than any diet, any idea, any worldly solution or any regret that I will encounter this side of eternity.
“One thing have I asked of the Lord and that shall I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” – Psalm 27:4
If you want me to make it practical for you … let me put it this way …
In 2014, whether you are a teen-ager or just one breath away from eternity, open your Bible and enjoy His presence, His power and His wisdom.
Whether you are the mother of 19 kids and counting … or are experiencing the lonely pain of an empty nest … or are walking through the wilderness of infertility … what you need to help you get through these days is the joy that is found in the Word of God.
Whether you make a six-figure income or are standing in line for your next unemployment check, your validation in life will come from knowing Him and not from what you do or do not earn.
In 2014, whether you are married or single … divorced or planning the wedding of your dreams … a widow or on your honeymoon … what you need to feel unconditionally loved, is to know His love that surpasses all others.
If we are going to number anything at all, the Bible tells us to number our days and apply our hearts to wisdom.
“So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12
What does it mean in to “number our days”? The Hebrew word for “number” is the word “manah” and it means to “count, number assign, prepare or tell”.
Rather than reading the noxious lists on Facebook or Twitter, why don’twe spend our daysnumbering our days?
Buy a calendar for the new year … and begin to fill its pages with what God has shown you … what you have planned … what you long to accomplish with your life … scriptures to memorize … people who need encouragement … books to read … books to write … the lyrics of songs that have touched you. The possibilities are endless!
When the calendar year then turns to 2015, you will have a diary of all that happened of significance in your life during 2014. You will look back and see the hand of God and hear His voice every day of the calendar year. You will have numbered your days in the very best way possible!
I have always loved eavesdropping on conversations that Jesus had with those He loved while He was on planet earth. One afternoon, He had a teaching moment with 2 women by the name of Martha and Mary. They were sisters but oh! So completely different from one another … as sisters often are!
Martha was the type-A girl … she got the job done! There was no mountain of laundry she couldn’t tackle, no crowd of men she couldn’t feed and no person whom she wouldn’t boss around. She was one take-charge, intimidating glob of estrogen!
Mary was the quieter sister … perhaps an introvert … who had found great meaning and sustenance by simply sitting at the feet of Jesus. It might not have seemed like she accomplished very much … but perhaps, in reality, she had learned the secret of numbering her days.
“But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:41 & 42
My prayer for you in 2014 is that you will number your days not read lists. I pray that you will choose the one thing that will make your life count for eternity. I pray that you will know the One to Whom everyone and everything else will someday bow.
