One Thing

Only one thing is needed............As I was reading this morning, God led me to Psalm 27-

"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." -Psalm 27:4



Oh, Lord, how that hit me this morning! ONE THING, ONE THING, ONE THING....Is that the ONE THING I ask of the Lord? Is that what I seek? Is that what I want more than anything- to gaze upon the His beauty and to seek Him with all of my heart? It occured to me that if I would begin seeking ONE THING, all of the other things would "fall into place."



I want to SEEK God with all of my heart, mind, and soul! I want to seek Him as treasure. "...you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart." God promises that we will find Him. He is NOT hiding! It is not like a game of hide-and-seek where you try to hide from the seeker and NOT be found to win the game. God WANTS us to look for Him. He wants us to turn to HIM. He wants us to FIND Him. He just asks ONE THING- that is with our whole heart- not a divided devotion. He doesn't want to share our love with idols or other things that would pull our heart from Him. He wants us to make Him our ONE THING! He wants us to hunger for Him! God wants us to seek after Him in an intimate, real, living, breathing relationship with Him.



As I pondered, "ONE THING," I immediately thought about Mary and Martha and what Jesus taught them and us about ONE THING.





These sisters both dearly loved Jesus, and were dearly loved by Jesus. He came often to visit and teach them. As the story goes, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus while Martha was preparing a meal for them. In fact, the Bible says, “Martha was distracted by her many tasks.” You know, I’m sure Jesus would have been happy with peanut butter and jelly, but Martha must have been putting out quite a spread. Well, there is our Martha, “distracted by her many tasks,” and getting irritated at her sister.



Can’t you picture her in the kitchen, having a “pity party,” talking to herself, listing all of the things she is doing WITHOUT any help? As she is working, she is getting madder and madder that she is the only one doing these tasks. I picture her slamming the cabinet doors, banging the dishes down. Sighing loudly, thinking that if Mary and Jesus hear, maybe they will "get it?"


Finally, Martha explodes! She comes to Jesus, whining, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

Now, take a step back, and look at what Martha is doing- she is making a meal for JESUS. She is serving the Lord. She is doing a “good” thing. Like, Martha, I can fill my life with so many distractions- sometimes very “good” things, and like Martha, I get overwhelmed and frustrated, and I begin feeling sorry for myself, and I, too, usually explode. “Don’t You care, Lord? I’m doing this all by myself! Make Brian help me.”

What does Jesus tell Martha? He says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.”

How many times when I am banging doors, slamming dishes, and sighing loudly, having my own pity party, feeling sorry for myself, complaining that life is not fair, do I hear my Lord whisper to me, “Tracy, Tracy, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.”


The ONE THING that is needed is getting to feet of Jesus, like Mary. It is putting everything else aside and spending this close, intimate time with Him. ONE thing, only one thing! You see, when you are at the feet of Jesus, you hear his voice. You are still and quiet and listening. You are in a posture of looking up. He will whisper to you what is important, what His will is. You may find that His priorities for you are much different than your own. You begin to hear and understand, and begin to ask, “In light of eternity, what really matters? What is really important?”



And, notice what Jesus says, “Mary has chosen what is better, AND IT WON’T BE TAKEN FROM HER.” Don’t skip that message from Jesus. You see, Satan loves to attack us in this area. He tries to make us feel guilty for being unproductive. We think, “We got to get up and get some work done! There is laundry, there are dishes, there are bills to pay!” But, Jesus is telling us to not be distracted by these things, that it is better to sit at His feet, and when we choose to, it won’t be taken from us.

So, I pray the prayer of David, "One thing I ask of you, Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life (Lord, I want to DWELL in your presence, completely filled with you. I want to be filled to the measure with all the fullness of God. I want to draw near to you. Lord, my desire is to ABIDE in you!), to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord (Lord, you ARE altogether beautiful, altogether wonderful to me!) and to seek Him" (Lord, I choose to seek you with all my heart. Lord, you are the treasure I seek). Father, help me to remember that only ONE thing is needed- to sit at your feet. Help me to make you my ONE THING! In the precious name