Have you seen the movie, “City Slickers”? Billy Crystal plays, Mitch, a 39-year-old married man who’s trying to figure out his life. As a birthday present for Mitch, he and a couple of friends head out west to work as cowboys for two weeks.
There’s a scene where Mitch is riding along with Curly, a crusty old cowboy. At one point, Curly turns to Mitch and says, “Do you know what the secret of life is?”
Mitch says, “No, what?”
Curly then holds up one finger and says, “This.”
“Your finger?” Mitch asks.
“One thing,” Curly answers. “Just one thing…” (As you can imagine, Curly’s language occasionally gets a little salty, so I won’t go into the rest of what he says.)
Mitch asks, “What’s the one thing?”
“That’s what you’ve got to figure out,” Curly says.
One thing.
Is there really a secret to life? Is it really just one thing?
How would you answer? What’s the secret to life?
The politically correct Christian answer is of course, Jesus. But is He really? I mean, do you really believe it? Is Jesus enough? Is He the “secret” to life? To your life?
What about when life is falling apart and nothing seems to go as we’d hoped?
People we love get sick or die. Unexpectedly. Doesn’t it feel like the “one thing” is healing?
A spouse acts selfishly, despite promises to change or a child continues on a path of rebellion. Doesn’t it feel like the one thing is for the other person to simply act in a loving and responsible way?
Or just when we’re about to get ahead financially, the car breaks down, the washing machine quits or an unexpected bill arrives in the mail. Sometimes in the midst of a financial crisis, we feel like we don’t need Jesus as much as we just need a few thousand dollars.
So when our desires go unmet with no end in sight and that’s the reality we’re living in, is Jesus enough?
Really?
If an objective third-party was to study our to-do lists, our calendars and our checking accounts from the past 30-days, would they conclude Jesus is the one thing in our lives? Or would they find you and I are looking for our fulfillment and happiness in things we buy or experiences we enjoy or what we eat and drink?
Stop for a moment and ask yourself, “What do I desire the most?”
A better job? More money? A new house? Maybe it’s just that your existing house would sell before you lose it. Do you desire to have a baby? A better marriage? Or to simply be married. (I wonder how many single people desire to be married and how many married people desire to be single.)
It’s easy for me to say Jesus is my one thing, but does my life back it up?
Does yours?
I wonder what would happen if we actually committed to make Jesus the one thing. What would it even look like for us to do that?
Do you want to find out? Or at least start the journey?
What if for the rest of the month, you and I committed to living out Psalm 37:4?
“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
What if for the next two weeks, the number one priority in your life was to delight in the Lord. Not your favorite television shows. Not other relationships. Not your work. Not the stuff you’ve bought.
Just Him. What if your goal was to find your pleasure and enjoyment in Him?
How you do that is up to you.
For me, that has to include lots of time in the Bible. It has to include obeying what He tells me to do. It might also include a time of fasting. Maybe an extended time of worshiping Him. It’ll need to include time with others who are like-minded in wanting to seek and delight in Him.
What if as you seek and delight in the Lord, He begins to change you and your desires? What if your new desires line up with what He is already purposing to do in your life?
By the way, I’m not suggesting that our current desires are all wrong. There’s nothing wrong with desiring to be married or have a baby or get out of debt. Maybe God has the same desire for you, but has different timing or a different way of fulfilling it. The key is to delight in and desire Jesus more than anything else.
What do you think?
One thing. Two weeks.
Will you join me?