As a new Christian, the “one thing” you needed to know that you had been blind, spiritually speaking, but that now you could see. It was your witness to those who had known you as a non-Christian. But you need to move on from the “one thing” you needed to know to the “one thing” you now need to do, which is to seek Christ’s purpose in calling you. You’ll find his second “one thing” in Philippians 3:13.
So be active in claiming what God has promised you! Jacob wrestled for the fulfillment of the promise God had earlier given him! Moses interceded with the LORD twice until He changed His mind. Our relationship with the living God is interactive! His Word inspires active faith rather than passive resignation to an unknowable will.
The “one thing” the apostle Paul did was to reckon as “rubbish” his family lineage and religious heritage and instead choose the relationship with God that had come through faith in Jesus Christ. That required him to forget his past and focus on his future. Like a competing runner, Paul stretched out his chest as he neared the finish line. The prize was God’s upward call to a higher life in Christ.
The “one thing” Paul knew after encountering the Lord on The Damascus Road was that Jesus really was the expected Messiah. The encounter and his baptism in water and the Holy Spirit in the house of Ananias empowered his witness.
Yet Paul would later write of God working in him to will and to do His good pleasure. He also wrote of persevering in the face of persecution. The “one thing” he knew at conversion was still important to him, but the “one thing” he chose to do as an ongoing believer was to reach out to the goal in order to win the prize.
The “one thing” you need to do as a new Christian is what God is calling you to do, the thing you were “born again” to do. God works in you until you are willing to do it and to do it well (Philippians 2:13).
Then you’ll set out to do that “one thing” that God has called you to do — leaving behind the past to discover your destiny in Christ. Reaching the goal and gaining the prize will not be easy, but you can do it by pressing forward to win the ultimate prize: eternal life! You have life now, spiritually, but your goal is to have it in an immortal body.
Each and every believer runs the race, but some are in it and others are in it to win it! Winning, rather than running, is their singular goal in life! They’ve seen the prize and have eyes for nothing else! What will you give up to gain the prize?