“The ONE THING I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most---is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in His temple” (Ps 27:4; NLT). This was obviously a cry from deep within
David’s heart. In the New Testament, Luke 10:42 we read, “There is only ONE THING worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42; NLT). What was the one thing that Mary was doing? She was sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His teaching; she was in His presence. This is exactly what David was desiring. Moses said that if God’s presence did not go with them on their journey through the wilderness, then he didn’t want to move (Ex 33:15). Psalm 16:11 tells us that fullness of joy is found in God’s presence. God’s presence also strengthens our spirits and brings us rest (Ex 33:14).
When we read the word, pray, worship and spend time with God, we are in His presence. Let’s ask God to help us make “one thing” our priority, and ask Him to give us a hunger like never before for this “one thing”. Then we can be like Paul who said, “ONE THING I do, forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forward to those things that are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:13,14; NKJV).
Does anybody ever worry or have anxiety? Worry and anxiety are completely unproductive and will only wear us out. In Psalm 23 we read: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul (Psalm 23:1-3a; NKJV). That speaks of peace and tranquility. It is the devil that comes: “to steal, kill and to destroy (John 10:10; NKJV). He wants to steal our peace and destroy that tranquility. Jesus defeated satan and took back all power and authority from him (Col 2:15; 1 Cor 15:57) and we as Christians walk in Christ’s victory and authority over satan. James, the brother of Jesus said we could “resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7a). We resist the devil by reminding him of God’s promises for us and refusing to receive his thoughts and imaginations.
In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus told us not to worry but to focus on Him and He would take care of all of our needs. The apostle Peter exhorted us to cast every care over on God because He cares for each one of us (1 Peter 5:7). That does not mean cast our cares on Him in the morning but then pick them up and worry later in the day! It means give all your worries and anxiety to God all of the time! “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You. Because he trusts in You (Isa 26:3; NKJV). Do we get the picture?
“He saved us not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but because of His own pity and mercy” (Titus 3:5 AMPC). Where would we be without the mercy of God? It is the mercy of God that gives us forgiveness of sin. The Greek word for mercy is
“eleos”; it means compassion, feeling sympathy for someone but also doing something about it. Jesus was moved with compassion to feed the thousands and heal the sick as we read in the gospels, “but when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them…” (Matt 9:36; NKJV).
However, Jesus wants us to be merciful too, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Matt 9:3; NKJV). Jesus quoted this from Hosea 6:6 in the Old Testament. In other words, God is more interested in us showing mercy and compassion towards others than doing religious performance which does not come from the heart. As we have received so much mercy from God, the least we can do is share that with others.
I’m sure you are familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:29-37. It is a great example of someone showing mercy to others. Jesus said “Go and constantly do the same” (Luke 10:37; AMP). Enough said!