If you were stranded on a deserted island...

"If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you take?" 

This was a question asked on Yahoo! Answers, the place where you can pretty much get an answer to any question from "where do monkeys come from?" to "should I keep my baby?" Ask the internet a question and Yahoo! Answers may have an entertaining (rarely wise) answer for you.

This question came with a link, because the poser of this silly question cataloged the responses in a YouTube video.What a find!

Reading the responses, you can sort of tell what individual people are concerned with:

• Some responders mentioned "water." These people are concerned with their survival. 
• Some responders mentioned food. Specific foods. Unlimited food even. They didn't want the tools with which to hunt, but just somehow an endless supply of chocolate, chicken, and other tasty morsels. These people are concerned with comfort.
• Some responders mentioned dogs or other people (who thank you for stranding them). These people are concerned with companionship.
• A small group of responders mentioned items (or persons) that could be used for entertainment, which was also clearly a concern. 

By what responders chose to bring, you could figure out what they really cared about. I have always hated this question for two reasons:

1. If I'm stranded, isn't it too late for me to take something? 
2. If I could somehow request items post-stranding, how do you choose just three?! 

What if it was just one? What would it be?

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." - Matthew 5:9

  

This particular Beatitude is interesting to me, because it requires you to have "just one." Just one what? One want. One desire. ONE. 

"one is the loneliest number"

I've probably said "All I want is this one thing..." regarding dozens of things in my life. Wanting ONE thing is very unnatural. And even if we did want just one thing, after we had it, we might not want it anymore! That's human nature. We want quality and quantity. In other words: we want it all. But "purity" by definition can't include "it all." For something to be pure, it is not mixed with anything else. For something to be pure, it is comprised of one substance.  So Jesus is saying: I need there to be ONE thing in your heart. To which my response is: eek!

There's a scripture that is littered all over this blog. And it is probably used incorrectly as I didn't understand it until recently:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:19-21

I thought that God cared about my stuff. Or at least the quality of my stuff. In my mind it went like this:

• Store up treasures in heaven, because that stuff lasts forever and no one can take it out of your hand! 
• Don't store up treasure on earth, because that stuff is temporary, wears out, and can be taken!

SMH. God doesn't care about my stuff! He cares about the location of my heart! And He wants me to be aware of where it resides. Locate your treasure. Locate your heart.

So once I locate the many (not even close to one) things that my heart desires, I find out a sad truth:

The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
 - Jeremiah 17:9

This is what the Bible refers to as the natural state of my heart. It's bad. So, as in the other Beatitude problems, God has to step in with a supernatural remedy: goodness.

I go to a church where the pastor often says: "Jesus doesn't just make bad people good, he brings dead people to life." And I love that. But in Galatians 5:22, we come to know that God can make you "good." A bad heart can be transformed into a good heart (courtesy of the Holy Spirit). A pure heart. By the works of Christ (1 John 1:9, 1 John 3:2-3, Hebrews 1:3, etc.). 

So what does this mean? I can't want anything? I'm not exactly saying that. But if someone asked you: "If you could only have one thing in the whole wide world, what would it be?" How would you answer? 

One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord    and to seek him in his temple.

 - Psalm 27:4

Oh to answer like David, "a man after God's own heart"! 

The Lord is still working on me, but one day...I'll answer like that. Not with my mouth. But it'll be the first thing that pops into my head. It'll be the first words that forms in my heart. Why? Because it's a "good" answer. And God makes us good.