The One True Thing: What Is Worthy of Your Lifelong Devotion?

What is the one thing you most deeply desire?
Howard Baker says we all long for a single devotion. Yet most often, our lives are fragmented, torn between competing desires, demands, and responsibilities. As a way to answer our deep need, we throw ourselves into work or activities or addictions. But devotion to a job, to a possession, or even to a person is not worthy of the human heart, says Baker. He leads us toward an earnest pursuit of “the one true thing” that simplifies and brings all the scattered pieces of our lives into focus.

In The One True Thing, Howard Baker says that every human yearning at its core is a desire for God, and God is calling out to us through our daily scrambles to control life. The pursuit of God is the one true thing that simplifies and integrates all other things. In this small book that addresses the largest of themes, the author uses great writers of the past and biblical stories to guide us through three stages of pursuing God: seeking, choosing, and ultimately valuing Him above all else.

Howard Baker has a master’s in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and teaches Christian Formation at Fuller Seminary Colorado and at Denver Seminary, where he is instructor of Christian formation and campus chaplain. He has authored Soul Keeping, co-authored Transformation of a Man’s Heart, and contributed articles to numerous journals as well as The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible.