Singleminded, wholehearted
One thing I ask
Singleminded, wholehearted
One thing I ask

That I may gaze upon Your beauty, oh Lord
That I may seek Your holy face
That I may know You in an intimate way
And follow after You all of my days,
Follow after You all of my days.

All of life comes down to just one thing,
And that’s to know You, oh Jesus, and make You known

- One Thing, by Charlie Hall

I’ve been reading through 2 Corinthians a lot these past few days, just trying to figure out a theme that can be ascribed to the whole of the book. It’s been really tough – Paul addresses a whole lot of different issues in the book, things from the sufferings the church endured to giving generously. But out of the whole book, the theme of knowing God and reflecting His glory to others seems to resonate the most with the things God’s been showing me recently.

Like the song above, we sing about how we want to know God and to make Him known throughout the world. However, it’s really simple, as I’ve seen personally, to present the idea of making God known as the primary reason for existence. While we Christians are all called to make disciples and to be “Christ’s ambassadors” (2 Corinthians 5:20), the message we bring to people is not to recruit for some large organization. One thing I remembered from Urbana (yes, cherish the little insight you’ll get from me about Urbana) was that ultimately, we are part of the harvest as well. The harvest doesn’t mean all of those “poor, lost souls in Central Asia” or some other “unreached people group in the 10-40 window.” The harvest, as Christ looked at Jerusalem in Matthew 9:36-38, includes all of us. We were all lost in our sin, at one point in our lives. We need to always remember that the message of reconciliation and forgiveness and repentance has everything to do with us as well.

But I’m getting off the subject, slightly. I was saying that while we are instructed to be witnesses of what we have experienced, seen, and heard, there is no purpose to our “ministry” if we are not constantly focused heavenward. Our primary purpose, as part of God’s great creation, is to glorify Him. As Christians, we glorify Him by our continual submission of our wills to Him. We worship Him unceasingly in our lives, as each day brings us closer to Him. There are several practical ways to glorify Him in action, but most importantly, our hearts/attitudes must be correct for our worship to glorify God. And it is by our desire to bring glory to our Creator that we overflow love, peace, joy, etc. to the people around us. Paul writes that we are the “aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15). And so yes, we should have a desire to boldy proclaim Christ. Yes, we should be wrestling in prayer for our unbelieving friends. Yes, we should pray for opportunities to share life with the people around us. But ultimately, this all needs to come out of our focus on God. John Piper said it this way: “Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” Let us return to the person of our worship, and from there have the overflow of compassion for the lost.

One Thing
Words and Music by Charlie Hall
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