Jan 17, 2025 The One Thing Worthy of Prayer and Pursuit – Words of Grace Blog – January 17, 2025
I’ve been in some settings where the icebreaker question was of the “one thing” type. What’s one thing you would take with you to outer space? What’s one thing you can’t live without? What’s one thing you hope to do in the upcoming year? Whenever the question is asked there are always people who say they can’t narrow it down to one thing, so they give two or three.
One man who didn’t have difficulty identifying the one thing he prayed for and pursued in life was King David. “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; 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 inquire in his temple,” (Psalm 27:4).
What rises to the top of the list of all things to become the one thing worthy of praying for and pursuing? That is a question worth asking.
For the person in Christ, the one thing we pray for and pursue is Christ himself. This was the life-guiding conviction of the Apostle Paul. “One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
King David and the Apostle Paul prayed for and pursued the same thing. David, before Christ, sought the beauty of the Lord in the temple as he inquired about the One to come. Paul, after Christ, knew the glory of the Lord was in the face of Christ. Both had Christ before them as the one thing worthy of prayerful pursuit.
Set Christ always before your mind. We must understand that the things we keep before our eyes and in our constant consideration become the things we move toward in our desires and daily activities. Read the Gospels and the Epistles to see Christ with the eyes of the mind.
Turn what you see about Christ into prayers for your life and others. Ask for many things that flow from the one thing that matters most— knowing, loving, and following Christ.
Pursue what you ask for. This is the way of David and Paul. They may have been two of the greatest men of prayer the world has ever known. Their prayers are recorded in the Bible! But they pursued what they prayed for, pressing on and straining ahead with every part of their being to attain it.
Brothers and sisters, Christ is our “one thing.” Ask and seek. Pray and pursue. He will certainly reward us with himself.
-Scott