Life HacksHave you noticed the trend on Facebook and other social media sites these days? It seems everyone has a list to make your life easier and better.

  • 26 Life Hacks to Make You Smarter at Work
  • 13 Ways to Read Faster and Comprehend More
  • The 46 Most Brilliant Life Hacks Every Human Being Needs to Make Life Easier
  • 9 Ways to Start a Conversation with Absolutely Anyone

And even that list goes on and on…and leads to other lists.

I remember a few years back when companies were making additives and accessories for your car that saved 10%, 20%, 50% or more on gasoline. I figured out one time that if I bought all of these things and put them into my gas tank and on my car, I could probably sell off the excess gasoline and never have to buy fuel again!

The same is true with the interesting lists. If I did all of them I would be so smart that I could simply sit back, enjoy life, and never have to work again.

It seems we are looking for the easy way, the smoothest road, the simplest method to do something…and sometimes we spend all our lives looking. I wonder if we have our priorities in the right order.

I’m not sure I want a surgeon who used shortcuts during surgery…especially if it’s MY surgery. I don’t know if I even want to get a haircut from a barber who just read “Haircuts for Dummies.” Some things are just hard, yet are worth the effort we put into them to learn and accomplish something important.

Sure, there are lots of things that we can save time on…things that don’t matter much. A favorite of mine in one of these lists is cutting a toilet brush off its handle, attaching it to an electric drill, and putting the spinning brush in a bucket of water filled with raw potatoes. It says you can peal a whole bag of potatoes in less than a minute. If I ever need to peal a whole bag of potatoes quickly I may try it.

In the Bible there is a “list” that the Apostle Paul mentioned. Not much of a list, actually. Just one thing. Remember? It is in Paul’s letter to the Christ-followers in Philippi.

[blockquote author=”Philippians 3:13-14 NASB” link=”” target=”_blank”]Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.[/blockquote]

Paul was saying that the only thing of importance to him…the only thing on his list…is to strive for the goal of the “upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

I like the paraphrase that Eugene Peterson gives those verses in The Message.

[blockquote author=”Philippians 3:13-14 MSG” link=”” target=”_blank”]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.[/blockquote]

Of all the lists floating around, this commands my attention.

This. One. Thing.