The Bible uses the phrase, ‘One Thing’, four times. What is interesting is that this was mentioned by three persons at three different times, one of them separated by hundreds of years. God who is the beginning and the end is always consistent. As the author of the Bible, surely He could not mean four different one things? If God says, “one thing”, then there must be just one thing. What is it then?
David first writes, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall 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 meditate in His temple.” (Psa. 27:4).
The Lord Jesus in one of his visits to Bethany says to Lazarus’ sister, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41,42)
At another time the Lord squarely addresses a rich ruler who asked how he could obtain eternal life. Though this man had kept the commandments of God from his youth, the Lord says to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess, and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Luke 18:22)
A few decades later when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians he spoke of the “one thing” he did. He had just finished telling the Church of how he counted the privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as one of surpassing value and how he considered everything else he had attained as rubbish. He wrote, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Php. 3:13,14)
What is common in the one thing that we’ve read in the four different passages above? The ‘one thing’ that God’s Word is asking us to have is—a single-minded, undistracted devotion to God (1Cor. 7:35). This one thing revolves around the first and foremost commandment, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Mt. 22:37)
How do we arrive at this conclusion?—you may well ask. David and Mary, both desired the presence of God—to listen to Him, fellowship with Him and enjoy being with Him. Such a desire can stem only from a deep love for God. A love that says, "You are the one and only thing I need."
The Apostle Paul desired to know Him—to have a greater revelation and insight of the unfathomable God he worshiped. It is important at this point to note how Jesus links ‘knowing Him’ to ‘loving Him’. The Lord Jesus promises that He will disclose Himself to us when we love Him and keep His commandments (Jn. 14:21). The principle is simple: to know God, we must love and obey Him.
The one thing that the Lord asked the rich, young ruler to do was possible only if one loved the one Master, the Lord Jesus Himself, and clung to Him while despising the other master, mammon (Mt. 6:24).
So we see that in all the above instances, "a single-minded, whole-hearted, sincere devotion to God" is the key, operative factor that the Bible speaks of as the ‘one thing’ that we must seek after.
In the world we have many distractions, many of them very legitimate—our careers, our aspirations, our wish-list. Most of our energy, our time and often a lot of our life is consumed with chasing after these things. Like Martha we are too busy hurrying here and there, doing this and that. We love God—we pray, read the Bible and go to church—but our relationship with the Master is often devoid of that “first-love” (Rev. 2:4). Oh that we can get to that first-love that Christ spoke of; and yearn for Him, earnestly desire Him—not just His hand but more so His face.
As Christ’s redeemed ones, we have need of only ‘one thing’. We need to place God on the decision-making seat of our life; we need to cling to Him, depend on Him and say, “No matter what Lord, I want to submit to and walk in Thy perfect will. If in Thy faultless wisdom Thou dost lead me to let go of all that I cherish and possess, I want to honour Thee with obedience of faith that exhibits to the great cloud of witnesses that Christ is enough for me. Like David and Mary I want to constantly enjoy and grow in that close fellowship with the Holy Spirit (2Cor. 13:14). Like Paul, I ask that I may increasingly gain insight and understanding of Thy fathomless being. Disclose Thy beautiful Self to me, O Lord (Jn. 14:21). Increasingly, let me behold Thy beauty (2Cor. 3:18; 4:6).”
More than anything else today, the Church needs to arise and lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of us. We need to with sincerity of devotion live each moment of each day with the single-minded ambition to please the Lord (2Cor. 5:9). We need to resolutely decide before God that whatever we do, even in mundane things like eating and drinking, we will glorify Him (1Cor. 10:31). The early Church had such devotion. Not only did no one claim that anything that belonged to him was his own (Acts 4:32), but they first gave themselves to love the Lord in completely surrender (2Cor. 8:5).
One thing is needed Church, just one thing. I believe God will not only satisfy such longing hearts that pursue this, but will glorify His name in them.
