One Thing

Are you a 'one-thing' person?
The future fearlessness of your faith will rest on the singleness of your desire...

People who give themselves to one thing always fascinate me. J. Hart Rosdail of Elmhurst, Illinois, gave himself to visiting all 221 countries and territories in the world...Beginning in 1950, Francis Johnson of Darwin, Minnesota, dedicated himself to collecting the largest ball of string: eleven feet in diameter and weighing five tons. Marva Drew of Waterloo, Iowa, between 1968 and 1974 typed the numbers one to one million in words on a manual typewriter. She used 2,473 pages. When asked why, she said, 'I love to type.'

These are preposterous examples of people obsessed with one thing. Many would wonder about the appropriateness of their obsessions. The psalmist, however, could speak of a single obsession that filled his own heart. When he looked to the past and into the future this one thing filled his perspective--and that perspective led him to strive for intense communion with and contemplation of God.

The psalmist makes one of the most single-minded statements to be found anywhere in Scripture when he writes: 'that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.' He habitually longs to be in Jehovah's house, to be in close communication with Him both physically and spiritually. But he was often under attack and had to flee far from the tabernacle or tent that housed the visible presence of the unseen God. So he envied those servants of the tabernacle who perpetually lived in its very physical presence. Likewise, the same faith that overcomes fear today is a faith that longs to be in the congregation of God's people where they gather together in His presence. The faith of a spiritual isolationist has difficulty overcoming fear. But the faith that feeds on the gathering of God's people locally and physically in the congregation is the faith that can face down fear."

-Dr. Joel C. Gregory- "Homesick for God"