The Great Importance Of One

Albert E. Farley

We have learned that the population of the world in 2007 was 6.6 billion people! (www.prb.org) The population of the United States was 302.2 million people. With these great numbers of people before us, it is sometimes difficult for us to think of the great value and importance of one single person. God, in His Holy Word, teaches us the great value of ONE!

In the days of Noah, the wickedness of man was great. Genesis 6:5-8. The Lord was sorry He had made man and determined to destroy all of them. However, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord! One man, Noah, believed and obeyed God to the saving of his house and, thereby, the entire human race! Hebrews 11:7, 1 Peter 3:20. Can one person make a difference?

In Luke 15:1-32, our Lord spoke of His missionHis purposeby telling the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boy. "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (10) Each of these stories emphasizes the importance of one soul to God. However, the third story also emphasizes the importance of the one salvationthe one hope of the lost: the decision of and the return of the lost son to his father! If one soul is so important, how much more important are 6,600,000,000 souls! Yet, we must see that the salvation of these souls must be one soul at a time.

The story of the healing of the man named Legion vividly shows the love of God for one single person. Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:22-39. Jesus was teaching and healing multitudes of people on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. However, He commanded his disciples to go with Him across the sea and through a great storm to the land of the Gadarenes. One pitiful, wild, lost soul met Himone possessed by many devils or demonsas many as 2,000! He dwelt among the tombs; he cut himself with stones and cried out night and day! The people had sought to bind him with fetters and chains, but he broke them. He fell down before Jesus and worshipped Him. Jesus cast out these demons into a great herd of hogs feeding on the mountain. These ran into the sea and were drowned. The herdsmen ran into the city and the people came out to see that the wild man was sitting, clothed, in his right mind, and speaking with Jesus. They immediately begged and pleaded with Jesus to leave their country at once! They thought more of their many hogs than one human being! Jesus left them and returned to the other side.

We must make many decisions in life. However, there is one that is supreme in importanceour choice to hear and to obey Jesus Christ! When Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping her with the house chores, Jesus replied, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luke 10:38-42

The choice to put God first in our lives is very personal. The apostle Paul spoke of his commitment to Christ in his letter to the church at Philippi. Philippians 3. He cast aside everything he had in order to win Christ. (8) He wrote, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (13, 14)

The importance of every single effort made in service to our Lord is taught in Matthew 10:42. "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." The Lord gave the same wages to those who worked only one hour in His vineyard (His kingdom; His church) as He gave to those who began very early in the morning! Matthew 20:1-16.

Paul wrote, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." We are so very thankful to our God that He has given us His Only Begotten Son! John 3:16. Neither is there salvation in any other! Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." 1 Timothy 2:5; Acts 4:12; John 14:6

Yes, the number one has great importance in the Bible. Do you believe in the one God? Have you been baptized with the one baptism commanded in the one faith by the one Lord? Do you have the one hope found only in the one body, the church of Christ, revealed to us by the one Spirit in Ephesians 4:1-6? Editor.

 

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