Be A One Person Thing: Wholehearted Devotion In Following Jesus

What are our greatest longings and desires? What are the most important things to us? It matters because what we long and desire for impacts our actions. We demonstrate what we love by what we do. And the unseen, well ordering of the heart through the power of the Holy Spirit is extraordinarily difficult work. The flesh will always battle what goes against it, Amen? We so often carry in us bias’s and prejudices that are generational because no one sought to break that bent, putting to death what is wrong, through God’s power, and giving the heart a totally different leaning. God is in the business of changing hearts which changes our thoughts, our desires and our actions. And, through Jesus, He has given us the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish this great task. Remember, God is sovereign over our inward workings as well as our outward workings and He knows and sees all. Nothing is hidden from His sight. Both our thoughts as actions are to be governed by Him and for Him. It is the whole man – what is inside as well as outside - that is held accountable to God. And we will never fool Him.

It matters greatly what we think and what lies deep within our hearts because it will reflect in what we do. All sin is open before God and hateful to Him. We hurt our own souls when we view things differently from the Master, Who sees all. And as if self were not enough, Satan seeks to make the world bigger to us and the spiritual things less, disordering and misleading our priorities and actions – placing other things on the throne of our lives besides God. These often begin in our thoughts and imaginations; our choices and our heart’s desires. God is to be on the throne of our lives. And He does not share His rightful throne with anyone or anything. That is why Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NIV): “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

There were three people Scripture specifically mentions, though not perfect, chose to be “one thing” people and their lives proved faithful. King David who wrote in Psalms 27:4 (NIV): “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.” Mary, sister of Martha, in Luke 10:41-42 (NIV): “‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘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 away from her.’” And lastly, the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV): Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” May we seek to be one thing people.