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—