Today’s Verse
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33
The One Thing
We accumulate. We add. We pursue. More opportunities, more possessions, more experiences, more achievements. We’re convinced that fulfillment is just one more thing away, if we could just get that promotion, that relationship, that breakthrough, that change in circumstances. And yet, no matter how much we acquire, there’s still an emptiness that nothing seems to fill.
The truth is, our souls weren’t designed to be satisfied by accumulation. We were made for one thing: God Himself. Not God plus success. Not God plus the perfect life. Just God. And when we try to fill that God-shaped void with anything else, we end up exhausted, overwhelmed, and unsatisfied.
Here’s what changes everything: when we make Him the one thing, everything else finds its proper place. When we seek Him first, the chaos calms. When we prioritize His presence, the urgent loses its grip. When we stop chasing a thousand things and focus on the One Thing, we discover that He was what we were looking for all along.
This isn’t about adding God to your already full life, it’s about building your life around Him as the center everything else revolves around. Not as one item on an endless to-do list, but as the foundation upon which everything else is built.
Today, what if you stopped adding more and started simplifying around the one thing that actually matters? You don’t need a thousand things. You need Him. And He is enough.
Today’s Prayer
Lord, You are the one thing that I need, the only necessity in a life full of distractions and competing demands.
I chase after so many things, believing they’ll satisfy, fill the emptiness, make me whole, but they always leave me wanting more.
Teach me to choose what Mary chose, to sit at Your feet while the world rushes around me, to prioritize Your presence above every other pressing thing.
You are the living water that quenches every thirst, the bread of life that satisfies every hunger, the one true thing that my soul was made for.
Help me simplify my life around this truth, to strip away what’s unnecessary, to stop adding more when all I really need is more of You.
Remind me that everything else will pass away, that possessions will fade, achievements will lose their shine, but You remain forever, the only treasure worth pursuing.
Give me the wisdom to recognize when I’m distracted by lesser things, the courage to let go of what keeps me from You, the discipline to center my life on the one thing that matters.
Let this be my declaration and my daily practice, that You are the one thing I need, and everything else is secondary to knowing You, loving You, and abiding in Your presence.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
P.S. This song by Housefires is regularly on repeat while I’m working. It inspired today’s illustration and devotional.