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In 1995 while listening to the Rich Mullins’ song “My One Thing ” something indescribable came over me as the Hammer Dulcimer sound spoke directly to my soul. I began to ponder what is the one thing more. As I listened to the song more my heart became more in touch with who Christ is. The one thing I felt was purified with Christ. This one thing has been on my mind more and more. As I read the bible that year, and over the next few years, some verses hit me on what that one thing is.
The first verse that struck me as I thought about this one thing on my mind came as I was reading was Psalm 27, Verse 4. It gave me a vision of this One thing. “One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in his temple.” Is there any more we could want than to dwell in God’s house all the days of our life is that my one thing more. Is that having a pure heart that sees God.
As I was reading in the gospel of Mark later that summer and thinking about having that pure heart that sees God as it says in the song so strongly. I was struck hard by Mark 10:21. Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Give up all the things I have for Him. Is that the thing one needs to have? A heart that purely sees God? Has God asked me to sell and have I been disobedient? Lord, as the song goes, save us from those things that may distract us.
As I was reading further along in the Gospel of Luke 10:42, it hit me like the Brad Bacon song A Ton of Bricks “but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” To sit in His presence and have that pure heart that sees God is my one thing. Nothing beats being truly in the presence of God.
After watching the Chosen on night I went and read The Pharisees Investigate the Healing in the gospel of John. He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25. When one knows the Lord he sees thing all new, it really changes one. Seeing the Lord in all his glory is the one thing more we all need to have in our life. We will have the eternal life and will begin to have that pure heart that truly see God. This newly healed sinner surely was happy that he could now see God.
As I reflect on seeing God with a pure heart, I was reading Philippians just a few months ago, and the verse that actually gave me the idea to write about how this song “My One Thing” has changed me as a Christian. “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” ( Philippians 3:13). We have to leave the past behind because we have all made mistakes but we are not mistakes in Christ. We have to forge ahead with the knowledge that God has great plans for us on and that is my one thing I have to hold on too. Knowing I will always be with him.
While working at Peppermint records many years ago, Brad Jeffcoat told me that Lyrics you sing with a smile are who you are. This is the song that reflects who I am today – I love to smile big and sing along too. “Who have I in Heaven but You Jesus” And what better hope could I find because You’re my one thing and so much more.
It really has made me want that one thing (to follow Jesus) and for him to be in the lives of everyone I know. If you don’t have Jesus I hope you find him.
