Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26
“Bless the Lord, therefore, who hath given you that counsel, in virtue of which you can say, “He is your portion.” Rejoice in the thought, that the great concern is secured: as it is natural for us to do, when some important affair is dispatched, which has long lain before us, and which we have been inclined to put off from one day to another, but have at length strenuously and successfully attended.
Remember still to endeavor to continue acting on these great principles, which at first determined your choice; and seriously consider, that those who desire their life may at last be given them for a prey, must continue on their guard, in all stages of their journey through a wilderness, where daily dangers are still surrounding them.
Being enabled to secure the great concern, make yourselves easy as to others of smaller importance. You have chosen the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; other things, therefore, shall be added unto you: and if any which you desire should, not be added, comfort yourselves with this thought, that you have the good part, which can never be taken away.
And, not to enlarge on these obvious hints, which must often occur, be very solicitous that others may be brought to a care about the one thing needful. If it be needful for you, it is so for your children, your friends, your servants. Let them, therefore, see your concern in this respect for them, as well as for yourselves. Let parents especially attend to this exhortation; whose care for their offspring often exceeds in other respects, and falls in this.
Remember that your children may never live to enjoy the effects of your labor and concern to get them estates and portions: the charges of their funerals may, perhaps, be all their share of what you are so anxiously careful to lay up for them.
And think what a sword would pierce through your very heart, if you should stand by the corpse of a beloved child with this reflection: “This poor creature has done with life, before it learnt its great business in it; and is gone to eternity, which I have seldom been warning it to prepare for, and which, perhaps, it learned of me to forget.”
On the whole, may this grand care be awakened in those by whom it has been hitherto neglected: may it be revived in each of our minds. And that you may be encouraged to pursue it with greater cheerfulness, let me conclude with this comfortable thought, that in proportion to the necessity of the case, through the merits of Christ Jesus, is the provision which divine grace has made for our assistance.
If you are disposed to sit down at Christ’s feet, He will teach you by his word and Spirit. If you commit this precious jewel, which is your eternal all, into His hand, He will preserve it unto that day, and will then produce it richly adorned, and gloriously improved to His own honor, and to your everlasting joy, which God of His infinite mercy grant.”
George Whitefield (1714-1770) in the sermon entitled, “The Care of the Soul Urged as the One Thing Needful,” excerpt from the conclusion. As I depart early from Asbury it seemed fitting to read a sermon from one of my favorite Methodist preachers.
So what is the one thing needful?
The world says that it is to look out for ourselves and sort our basic necessities. Alternatively, God invites us to seek Him first, to trust Him to sort those things, to wait on Him, and to make Him our portion. We must act on this and make ourselves easy and available in service to others.
What matters not to God is what we say or think but what we do.
For all who wish to live, give, serve, and love generously, the answer is to make God our portion. Do that and we will demonstrate to the world that in Him we have everything you have ever needed, that we need, and that we will ever need.
That’s actually why we are here: to show the world He’s all they need.
My meetings with seminary administrators concluded with a rich time of prayer late yesterday. One of the last things we inspired each other to do was to urge all those we serve to live and write a different story. Or in Whitefield’s words, to do the one thing needful.
We aim to, and we pray you join us.