One of my favourite films is ‘City Slickers’, a 1991 comedy about a group of city men who become cowboys for a summer and end up having to get their cattle herd across America without the help of their guide… In the film, Curly, the wise, tough-as-nails trail boss, tells the restless Mitch that the secret of life is to find your ‘one thing’.
On Sunday evening, Frederick, a former Mattersey Bible College student from India, returned to visit us and spoken on Psalm 27:4, the ‘one thing’ of the Christian life:
“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: 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 seek Him in His temple.” He reminded us of the passage in Luke 10:41-42 where Mary and Martha both welcomed Jesus into their home, but Martha became easily distracted with the cares of the world. Jesus’s words to her when she complained that her sister was not helping her was that “Mary has chosen what is better.” The ‘one thing’ we need to prize most is our relationship with the Lord.
It is very easy to be distracted from that goal and sometimes to try to hold on to the things in our lives which we value highly, but God wants to give us so much more. Psalm 84:11 reminds us that “no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless” and we know that “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” (Ps 23:6) When we take the time to be with God and to prize that fellowship as Mary did, then we understand the truth of Psalm 138:8:
“The Lord will fulfil His purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures for ever – do not abandon the works of Your hands.”
It was good to hear about God’s work in India and to be able to support that financially. Our prayers are with Frederick and his wife as they return to work in areas and villages where the gospel has never before been preached. We thank him for his faithfulness in ministering to us and we are encouraged to hold on to the ‘one thing’ that really matters, for, as we’d sung earlier as a children’s song, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34)