Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have asked from the LORD, 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 And to meditate in His temple.”
Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
In Pursuit of a Goal
Donald Thornton worked as a ditch digger, and his wife, Tass, worked as a domestic. But Donald had other plans for their five daughters: they would be doctors and escape the hardships he and Tass had experienced. The girls’ early discovery of music proved to be the means to accomplish these goals. They practiced to become excellent musicians and won a talent contest in the Harlem Apollo Theater. Donald wouldn’t hear of his daughters pursuing a musical career, however. Doctors he planned for them to be, and nothing else would suffice. He encouraged them to use their musical skills to earn money by playing weekends at eastern universities. Their concentrated study opened college doors to them, and every girl graduated – two became doctors, one a psychiatrist, another a dentist, and another a professor working on a doctorate. What intense energy flowed in that family to envision, pursue, and achieve the goal of a college education for each girl!
Sometimes, having a goal is the only way we can keep ourselves committed to a course of action. The goal develops resources, skill, and application. Having Christlikeness as our goal fills us with a fiery enthusiasm to study God’s Word, to pray, to witness, to serve, to overcome, to sing, to acquire virtue. Those who are committed to that single purpose explicably find the power to achieve it.
Courtesy of Speaker’s Sourcebook of New Illustrations by Virgil Hurley copyright © 1995 by Word, Incorporated. Used by permission.
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Applicable Quotations
There is not a heart but has its moments of longing, yearning for something better, nobler, holier than it knows now. – Beecher
O for a closer walk with God, A calm and heavenly frame, A light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb! – Cowper
It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them. – Eliot
God, give me hills to climb, and strength for climbing! – Guiterman
Especially, however, should we all follow Mary in her faith. She knew more about the birth of Christ than any other person on earth; and unfalteringly she trusted the Almighty. It is recorded of her in Scripture, “Blessed is she that believed.” There were mysteries for Mary at the manger, promises she could hardly understand. The angel had told her that her Babe was to be the Son of God; yet He came into the world amid abject poverty; and the first to adore Him were not priests or church-men, but lowly shepherds. She had been assured that her Child would “save His people from their sins” and that His coming brought “good tidings of great joy” for “all people”; still was her Son not born an outcast? Only once in the whole marvelous story of her motherhood did she inquire, “How shall this be?”
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
You must be logged in to post a comment.