ONE THING
If you could have only one thing in the world what would it be? If you could only go one place where would you go? What about if there was only one thing standing in the way of you accomplishing something. It’s interesting to try to narrow things down to one. When you do that you are identifying the most significant thing. We see this principle applied in scripture. Let’s look at some of these incidents and see what we can learn from them.
1) One thing was desired.
• Wisdom. 1st Kings 3:1-13. God told Solomon to ask for anything. The one thing Solomon asked for was wisdom (a wise and discerning heart). In 2nd Chr. 1:10 he asks for wisdom and knowledge. This was his heart’s desire (2nd Chr. 1:11). And God was pleased. Solomon could’ve thought of only himself but instead he thought of others. He was thinking of God too. He knew that Israel was the nation that represented God and he wanted to bring glory and honor to God by governing his nation with a wise and discerning heart. And that’s what happened. 1st Kings 4:34 says that men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. And when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon and realized how wise he was she said in 1st Kings 10:9, “Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD'S eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness.” What if God presented us with that question? What would be the one thing you would ask for? Would your answer be the same as Solomon’s? Would your heart’s desire be for wisdom and knowledge? Would you ask for a discerning heart? Would you ask for something that would be in the best interest of God and others? James 1:5 says we can ask for wisdom and God will give it generously. If you read through the first four chapters of Proverbs, which Solomon wrote, you will see the importance he places on gaining wisdom. Solomon understood the incomparable value of wisdom. Do we?
• Closeness with God. David prayed in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” The one thing David wanted was to be close to God. And that included being in church! It was as if David was saying, “You can deprive me of everything else but don’t take away the privilege of being in your house. Don’t deny me the joy of being in the temple and experiencing how beautiful you are. I want to be close to you. I desire more than anything else to be in a close relationship with you. When David said “that I may dwell in the house of the Lord” he didn’t mean he wanted to live in the temple; it was signifying his deep desire to be close to God. David wanted God to be close to him. He knew what that was like and it was so important to him that it was the one thing he desired more than anything else. Paul felt that way too. In Phil. 3:7-8 he said that whatever was to his profit he considered loss for the sake of Christ. He said he considered everything a loss compared to knowing Jesus. What about us? Could we say that closeness with God is the most important thing? If we say ‘yes’ do we live like it? Does our bible collect dust? Is our prayer life virtually non-existent? Does going to church take a back seat to other events? If God took everything away from us and we were left with nothing but Him would we say we have everything we need? That pretty much happened to Job. Job grieved the loss but yet still saw fit to praise God. I believe he was able to do that because the most important thing to him was his relationship with God. Is being close to God the ‘one thing’ we desire most?
• Perseverance. Phil. 3:12-15. “Not that I have already obtained all this”. [10-11] Paul hadn’t done everything he needed to do; he hadn’t yet finished the race. He knew he needed to press on; he needed to persevere. Paul narrowed it down to one thing he needed to do in order to persevere; in order to reach the goal and claim the prize. The one thing he needed to do in order to be able to move forward; the one thing that was paramount to his spiritual growth and perseverance was to forget what was behind him. He needed to break free from his past. Not that he pretended like the past never happened but that he wasn’t going to allow it to affect his present or dictate his future. If we are going to be successful in moving forward we need to let go of past sins, resentments and shortcomings. By what Paul is saying we can realize that the one thing Satan uses to keep us from persevering is the past. He tries to convince us that our past reality of being dead in our sins is still the current reality. He tries to convince us that the past reality of not being empowered with the Holy Spirit is still the present reality. This will keep us stuck because we’re looking at ourselves as if we were never redeemed-never forgiven-never empowered with the Holy Spirit. So the one thing we need to do is forget who we once were and move forward in the present reality of what we are now. If we are not moving forward it’s because we are being held captive by our past. If we are going to persevere we need to do one thing-leave our past condition and the negative situations of our past and what they produced (character defects, hurts, hang-ups, etc.) where they belong-behind us.
2) One thing was missing.
• The willingness to surrender all. Mark 10:17-22. One thing he lacked. And that one thing wasn’t so much about his unwillingness to let go of his wealth as it was his unwillingness to surrender all. His unwillingness to recognize that he couldn’t work his way into heaven. Jesus was showing him that he wasn’t capable of doing all that was required. He needed to let everything go and focus on one thing-following Jesus. Could that be true for us? Is there one thing keeping you from coming to Christ? Is there one thing standing in your way from you becoming closer to Christ? What is the one thing we are unwilling to surrender; the one thing we are unwilling to do? What is standing in our way; is there one thing that is keeping us from thriving and reaching our fulfillment in Christ? Is it materialism like the man Jesus dealt with here? Is there a person in your life that is holding you back? Is it one specific sin? Whatever it is we need to ask ourselves why we are allowing one thing to hold us back from everything we stand to gain. Is a willingness to surrender all the one thing that’s missing?
• The focus on Jesus. Luke 10:38-42. Martha failed to recognize the one thing that was needed then. There are many different things that take up our time; many different things that need our attention on a daily basis. But sometimes we fail to keep the main thing the main thing. When our time with the Lord takes a back seat to everything else our whole being suffers. It doesn’t matter what we accomplish in life, if that closeness with Christ isn’t there we will feel the void. However, if we prioritize our lives to keep Christ first then we will see everything else fall into place. Martha lost focus on what was most important. Let’s not allow time with Jesus to be the one thing that’s missing from our schedule. If that one thing is missing it can ruin everything.
3) One thing to remember.
• Jesus is the real deal. In John chapter nine we find Jesus healing a man who had been blind since birth. He encountered some people who were wondering about it and he told them what Jesus did for him. John 9:13-34. This man may not have been as educated as the Pharisees standing before him but that didn’t matter. He didn’t let what someone else said about Jesus change his view of him. He had a miraculous encounter with Jesus. He saw and experienced the love and power of Jesus. They could say what they wanted to and it wasn’t going to sway him. He knew one thing and that one thing was enough. People today say all kinds of things about Jesus. Some of us may not be able to argue against their claims. But no matter who tries to tell you that Jesus isn’t the real deal, if the one thing you know and are sure of is that you are the recipient of God’s amazing grace and that he saved a wretch like you and you know it because you were once blind but now you see, then you can rest in that.
• Jesus is the only way. Gal. 3:1-2. Paul had to clarify something for the Galatians. We need to remember that one thing too. No amount of effort is going to save us. We are never going to win God’s acceptance through obedience to his law. There is only one way to be acceptable to God and that is through what Christ has done for us (John 14:6). We might know that but when we say things like, “I just need to try harder” or, “if I do better God will love me more”, then we are forgetting the one thing we need to remember. That doesn’t mean it’s not necessary to work hard we just understand that the reason we’re working diligently isn’t to earn salvation it’s because of it.
• Jesus is coming back. 2nd Pet. 3:3-4, 8-15. The people here thought that Jesus was coming back very soon. They needed to be reminded that God is not subject to our time frame. And he is not slow in keeping his promise. His delay doesn’t mean his promise isn’t valid. We need to remember that to. We might wonder when our deliverance is coming. We see all the crime and violence and evil and we cry out in desperation, “Hurry up Jesus”. Then we have people who try to say, “Jesus is coming back on December 5th”. Then December 5th comes and goes and the person looks like a fool and a mockery is made of the return of Christ. But the one thing we need to remember is that Christ is indeed coming back. That encourages us, comforts us but it should also challenge us. We should be challenged to be busy about the Lord’s work and not be complacent. We should be serious about putting off the deeds of the flesh that hinder us from performing the work of the Spirit. We should be motivated by Jesus’ words that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few so pray for workers to be sent into the harvest field. And since we can’t know exactly when Jesus is coming back there is no time to waste. If we keep Jesus’ return on our minds we will be compelled to be serious about our sanctification and busy doing the Lord’s work.
It makes sense when we can narrow things down to one. Doing so helps us to prioritize and keep it simple. When we desire wisdom, closeness with God and perseverance we’ve got the formula for success. When we can figure out the one thing that’s missing then we will have clarity to fix the problem. When we don’t forget that Jesus is real, he’s the way and he’s coming back we stay sure and secure. One thing I ask of you, keep the main thing the main thing and that will take care of everything.
