The Power of One

One lone tulip popped from a planter I loaded with bulbs last fall. I don’t know whether to rejoice over the one survivor or decide my green thumb carries the black plague. I’m not enough of a gardener to know what went wrong, but I do know one is better than none.

That got me thinking about “the power of one.” I did an internet search and found quite a few sites devoted to that slogan. Then I opened my Bible concordance (the one thick enough for a baby booster seat at the dinner table--wrapped in a towel, of course!). There I ran across about 1,000 references to the number “one.”

I could think of even more where “one” was implied, like the book of Esther. It reveals the power of God through one young woman, chosen to be the number one queen, who did one difficult thing to save one displaced nation condemned through the actions of one evil man.

Some others that came to mind:
“The one thing needed” (Luke 10:42) was Mary’s choice in sitting at the feet of Jesus.
One thing was lacking in the life priorities of the rich young man, who couldn’t bring himself to give away all he had to the poor (Luke 18:22).
One child offered up his lunch to feed 5,000 (told in all four Gospels).
One leper returned to thank Jesus for his healing—and he was a Samaritan who, presumably, lacked the finesse of gratitude (Luke 17:11-19). (Ouch! How many of us fail to thank Jesus for all He has done?)
Committing one sin is as bad as breaking the whole law (James 2:10). But by the sacrificial death of One, we are redeemed (Romans 5:19).
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)
There is one God and one mediator, Christ jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
One day is as a thousand years to God. The impatient early Christians (and we, too) needed this reminder (2 Peter 3:8). One day Christ is coming again!

My lone tulip bloom, besides reminding me of biblical powers of “one,” also stirred up disturbing thoughts. What of the other tulips that just sent out foliage? They’re not doing what God intended them to do, and that’s bloom. How often am I failing to bloom for God? With what useless activities to I fill my hours? There’s a lot of truth in old poem that adorned many wall plaques (including one belonging to my late mother-in-law): “Only one life, ‘twill soon be soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”