Over the last few years, individuals have started making lists of the things they want to be sure they accomplish before they die. The term used for these lists is bucket lists. This phrase likely is used because it contains the goals a person plans to reach before they “kick the bucket.”
I have a niece whose list contains the goal of visiting all fifty states. This came about because years ago her friend challenged her to see which of them would be the first to do this. Another friend’s list was to visit all seven continents before he died. Because his father had connection with the airlines, he was able to visit the Antarctica and checked that goal off his list.
David had a “bucket list.” Because of the book of Psalms, we know so much about the heart of this godly man. By reading the psalms, we can change our hearts to be like the heart of the man who had a heart like God. It may seem strange, but David only had one item on his “bucket list.” Take time to meditate on the one thing David wanted to accomplish more than anything else. “One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will 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 inquire in His temple” (Psa. 27:4).
Paul had a “bucket list.” Paul wrote half of the books of the New Testament. In one of these, he looked at all which he had done. Compared to what was still on his list they were rather meaningless. He said, “I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil. 3:13-14). He wanted one thing above everything and that was to reach the prize awaiting those who respond to the upward call of God.
Do you have a “bucket list”? A bucket list may help you to keep focused and give you goals to drive you to do more in your life. They are sometimes “fun” to make and compare them with others to see what they have on their lists. However, just make sure that you have something on your list which is like that one thing both David and Paul wanted to accomplish and had on their list.
Also, take time to make sure that it heads your list. What things do you want above all others to accomplish in your life? If you make a list, just remember that whether or not you accomplish everything on your list really will not matter as long as you do the first thing on the list. Even if you do not have a formal list, make sure that written on your soul are words of David and Paul.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years you will be thankful for the first thing you had on your list!