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One thing – David in Psalm 27
Psalms 27:4 (NIV)
One thing — Jesus talking to Martha and Mary in Luke 10 — it says Martha was distracted… So Jesus says to her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the one thing that cannot be taken away from her.
There’s something about saying Martha’s name twice that shows his care for her, and that he really wants her to hear what he’s getting ready to say. He’s talking about her whole life — being distracted by too many things because she has lost focus on the one thing she truly needs most.
Anxiety is often hidden in our body and in our mind. But it happens when the one thing stops being the main thing and just becomes another thing on a long list of too many things.
The very next sentence after Jesus talking to Martha is Luke 11…
Luke 11:1-4 (NIV)
Something about this shorter version gives us the main point.
Your kingdom come
Matthew 9:35 NIV
“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.”
You can’t separate Christ from the kingdom of God because the word Christ means King. All of Jesus’s miracles in some way were signs of the good news of the kingdom of God.
When he returns…
Matthew 13:43 NIV
So use your imagination to picture this incredible image Jesus just gave you. He’s actually quoting from the book of Daniel in the Hebrew Scriptures. But this is an image Jesus wants you to have, so run with it with your imagination. Imagine your resurrected body that in some way is described as shining like the sun in the kingdom of your father. A body of glory. Radiance. Beauty. Power. Righteousness.
If you have this one thing – dwelling in the presence of the I AM in his kingdom forever – you have everything.
Luke 12:30–32 NIV
Let your confidence in Jesus‘ words, replace anxiety and fear and self protective reflexes and stress in your mind and body with the security and comfort and peace and joy that your father is pleased to give you the kingdom. He knows everything you need and all you need is to have the one thing and that’s him — his kingdom. And everything else will be given to you if you have the one thing.
Matthew 13:44–46 NIV
Jesus is talking about the one thing you need. Having joy because you have the one thing. You have found the one thing that you need to seek. And everything else will come when you have the one thing.
CS Lewis quote in the very last part of Mere Christianity
“The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: …and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”
Imagine having the one thing you need. You don’t need to be anxious about anything else if you have the one thing.
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Our audio engineer is Diego Huaman.
This podcast is a ministry of The Crossing, a church in Columbia, Missouri, a college town where the flagship campus of the University of Missouri is located.