The secret of life is “One thing. Just one thing … stick to that and everything else don’t mean s—.”
That’s Curly’s advice to Mitch in the movie City Slickers. But Curly told Mitch he had to figure out the one thing himself.
Fortunately, the Bible has a lot to say about the secret of life. For those outside of Christ, the One Thing is to answer correctly Jesus’ question: “Who do you think I am?”
Christians also need to identify and pursue the One Thing in order to grow. Here are some clues:
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30)
“Hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6).”
First. All. Hunger. Thirst.
Consistently.
I certainly don’t meet those, especially consistently. I doubt you think you do.
We have good company though: Paul said he hadn’t arrived either.
Paul said the one thing he did was “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
Paul was pressing on to become more like Christ.
Christian growth means we must: Press on. Zealously pursue. Be relentless. Be energetic. Strenuously strive. Strain forward.
Concentrate on becoming more Christlike. Keep Him top of mind.
Short words. Difficult task.
I want pressing on to be more like Christ to be my one thing also. Some days it is.
God is making us into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). He uses a lot of different people and circumstances and events as His tools to make us more like Christ. That is His work.
But we cannot be passive in this. We have responsibilities. We have a race to run.
And we cannot do it alone. We need reminders. We need help. We need one another.
Please share what you have learned so we can press on together.
What are your keys to:
Consistently put the Lord first?
Keep on pressing on?
Christian growth?
How can you help others towards Christlikeness?
