One Thing

In City Slickers Jack Palance played Curly, a grizzled old cowboy taking the city slickers out for a cattle drive. Billy Crystal played Mitch Robbins, a city boy scared of Curly. So he tried to strike up a friendly conversation. And Curly shares the secret of life.

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?
[holds up one finger]
Curly: This.
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean nothin'.
Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"
Curly: [smiles] That's what you have to find out.

One thing. That's it. Of course, the writers didn't know what it was, so neither did Curly. It was just ... whatever you wanted it to be. David had a different idea.

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. (Psa 27:4)

I know. It's Sunday. "Stan must be telling us to go to church again." No, of course not. I don't understand "the house of the Lord" to be limited to the church. But ...

That's where I want to be. That's the "one thing" I want, in fact, the secret of life. The one thing that we should be seeking after is to be in the presence of the Lord, be it here or in heaven. Whether it's in church or at work or at home or wherever. Whether it's Sunday morning or evening or Monday or any day of the week at any time. One thing.

We ought to be there, in that one desire, that one request, that one guiding passion. It is my suspicion that the extent to which we are not is the distance from where, as believers, need to go in our sanctification. And, of course, we won't arrive there in this life. But someday ... oh, happy day!