One Thing

~ One Thing ~

If you are like me then the first things which comes to mind when you see “One Thing” is Psalm 27:4 “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.” The “One Thing” of this story is not about Psalm 27:4, but let me back up a little while –back to 2003.

We were living in Humboldt County, CA in 2003—what a place Humboldt is—but that too is a different story. As a stay-at-home mom, I drove my kids to and from school daily (1 hour + round trip). What is to come next began on a certain day in the fall. I can’t really remember what day or how exactly it happened that I started noticing death everywhere, especially the death in the middle of the roads—dead animals were everywhere—so it seemed. It started to weigh on me like an iron cloak. Sometimes the dead animals were skunks, which putrefied the moist foggy air with their scent.

This is where I began to hate death.

Over the next few years, an alarm hit my conscience—death is the result of sin. I don’t know how exactly this revelation embraced my heart but it branded it forever—death is the end of sin— I know this is a major theme throughout the New Testament but when it hit me it branded me. I don’t know how else to say it.

I began to see sin and death everywhere in society and politics, in the schools, on the streets, in the nations, and in the churches. It was overwhelming and if I wasn’t careful, would lead to hopelessness. Do I start a church, run for office, move to another nation, or hide?

Continuously I asked God, “What can be done?”

Here’s the good part—don’t miss it because it is so simple—it is profound. This is the “One Thing”! There is only one thing, which brings life where there is death. Only One!! Even if the dead are raised unless this one thing is also present, then the end-result is still death.

This ONE THING is the Gospel—Jesus Christ!

You see, the Good News of Jesus Christ is the Only Thing that brings life where there is death. It alone has so much power that God will confirm it with signs following and preceding, and will save the soul who believes it.

The answer to the entire world, all society, all the immorality and violence, all the hopeless and fears and problems is—the Gospel—because when someone believes the Gospel they are changed, society is changed, a nation is changed—

The Kingdom of God is EXTRAVAGANT

The Kingdom of God is EXTRAVAGANT

John 2

1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 3  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." 4  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." 5  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." 6  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it. 9  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!" 11 This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

Bring your imagination into the first of Jesus’ miracles; picture a wedding with all the festivities of the Jewish culture. The story itself is revealing where verses 3 and 10 both display the celebration’s dynamics involving the surplus of drinking wine. Verse 10 uses the word “methuo” meaning “to be drunk.” Along with that thought, verse 3 says they had already run out of wine.

Is the picture coming into view? They were celebrating a wedding and the expectation was there would be lots of wine and drinking, and that after all the expensive wine was gone the guests would be too drunk to care about the inferior taste of the wine served after the good was consumed (10). When the good wine was gone Jesus then creates 120 - 180 more gallons of wine, better than the good, which was served initially!

Prophetic analogy aside concerning the end of the age where God brings out the best wine at the end, this is a real account of a real wedding and the real first sign Jesus performed to manifest His glory resulting in the disciples believing in Him (verse 11).

Jesus Manifested the Kingdom of God through extravagance. He knew He was creating a potential for abuse of the grace and blessings of God (drunkenness is sin), but it didn't stop Him from manifesting the Kingdom of God through changing water into wine anyway. Is this the Jesus you're acquainted with?

Opening the Book of John is a declaration that Jesus is full of both grace and truth (verse 14). The grace of God is so extravagant that Romans 6:1 states, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Of course followed by, “Certainly not!”

The point is that the grace and blessings of God through Jesus Christ are so extravagant that if not tended by a Kingdom mind-set and life-style, His grace and blessings can, and probably will, provide opportunity for abuse. However, this does not stop God from being an extravagant God. Proverbs 10:22 states, “The blessing of the LORD makes one rich [meaning riches, wealth], And He adds no sorrow with it.” He adds not sorrow with it, but do we by not tending the blessings that come our way through a Kingdom life-style? Money is a blessing. Wealth is a blessing. Wine is a blessing. If God allowed the extravagance of the Kingdom to come our way through wealth or another form of grace and blessing, would we use it for His purposes or would be become drunk on it? 

Just a thought.