A movie from the early 1990’s became an instant classic. And one scene became its most memorable. The movie was “City Slickers” starring Billy Crystal and Jack Palance.[1]
It told of three friends, facing their 40th birthdays and experiencing midlife crises. They go to a dude ranch, where they take part in a two-week-long cattle drive through Colorado. Along the way they struggle with the lack of purpose in their lives. They find some insight from the old cattle-hand named Curly played by Jack Palance. As Palance and Crystal ride beside each other, they talk.
Palance says to Crystal: “You know what the secret of life is?”
Crystal says, “No, what?”
Palance says, “This” (he holds up one finger).
Confused, Crystal asks, “Your finger?”
Palance replies: “One thing. Just one thing.”
Crystal says: “That’s great, but what’s the one thing?”
Palance answers: “That’s what you’ve got to figure out.”
The secret to life is one thing. There is one thing that brings meaning to life. But we have to figure out what that one thing is.
A few years ago a group called Finger Eleven released a song entitled “One Thing.”[2] In it they sing of the struggle to find that one thing. They sing that sometimes we find that one thing and then lose it, and we’d trade it all just to get it back. Sometimes we don’t know what that one thing is. Here’s how the band puts it: “Restless tonight; Cause I wasted the light; Between both these times; I drew a really thin line; It’s nothing I planned; And not that I can; But you should be mine; Across that line; If I traded it all; If I gave it all away for one thing; Just for one thing; If I sorted it out; If I knew all about this one thing; Wouldn’t that be something…”
What’s the one thing you would trade it all for? What’s the one thing you would give all away for?
In October, 2004 David Seaman, a freshman at New York University was killing time. On a whim, he typed “What is the meaning of life?” into an online forum on the Internet. He received 2,000 answers. He compiled the answers into a book entitled The Real Meaning of Life.[3] In other words, here is the “one thing” in the opinion of some. One man wrote: “Why are we here? To reproduce.” Another wrote: “Beer, ribs, professional sports, and Miles Davis.” Another wrote: “Feeling truly free.” Another wrote: “Roughly 10 percent of life is spent trying to shirk death. The rest of life is probably spent waiting in line at the supermarket.” People have a variety of opinions about the purpose of life, about the one thing.
What is the one thing? Why are we here? What is the one thing we are all meant for? What is the one thing that gives meaning and purpose to life?
Jesus provides the Bible’s clearest answer to this question in Mark 12:28-34: 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” 32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
There was a lot of debate at that time about what the correct religious answer was to “Why am I here?” Scholars, like this teacher of the law, would debate which commandment best summarized the Bible’s answer to “Why am I here?” Different religious scholars had different ideas about what the “one thing” in life was.[4] But Jesus ends that debate here. He quotes from Deut. 6 and Lev. 19: 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Notice what Jesus doesn’t say. He doesn’t say what our culture says through movies, television, literature and music. He doesn’t say meaning in life comes from having a lot of money; or having a beautiful body; or having sexual relations as often as you desire; or having children; or having notoriety, fame, or acclaim. He doesn’t say meaning in life comes from being successful in your career; or being a good athlete; or being able to retire comfortably. Rather, meaning in life comes from this: 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’…’Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Continue noticing what Jesus does not say: he does not say meaning and purpose come just from serving God; or worshiping God; or gaining insight about God. Even the teacher of the law contrasts burnt offerings with genuinely loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength. Jesus is not saying that religion and ritual are why we are here. Instead, this is the “one thing”: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. “Your heart” refers to the innermost personal center of your being; “your soul” refers to the life force that energizes you; “your mind” refers to that part of you that thinks and plans; “your strength” refers to bodily existence. Jesus is talking about a comprehensive engagement with God that utilizes all of your faculties to their ultimate capacity.[5] In other words, there are plenty of religious people who have never experienced real meaning in their lives. They worship God. They serve God. They learn about God. But they miss the “one thing.” Jesus is saying that the “one thing” is found in developing an intimate relationship with God that involves our personal center, our energizing life-force, our intellect, and our physical body.
Notice what else Jesus does not say. He does not say that meaning in life is rooted only in loving God entirely. It is also rooted in this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The one thing is not simply getting lost in a mystical connection with God. It also involves getting practically involved in the lives of people: loving your neighbor as yourself. And it’s not simply serving other people. It’s not simply helping other people. There are many who serve others sacrificially or who help people generously but who miss the one thing. The one thing is learning to genuinely love the people around us.
Though this seems simple, the church and Christians have not always grasped it. The church has tended to focus on only pieces of this one thing rather than the whole thing. For example, in his writings, Richard Foster states that when you look back through the history of the Christian church, you find at least six “movements.”[6] Each movement captured only a small slice of Jesus’ words here. None captured their full meaning.
In the 4th century, men and women like Antony of Egypt fled city life to found monasteries where they emphasized solitude and meditation. This helped launch the contemplative movement.
In the 12th century, Francis of Assisi and his followers went about caring for the poor, the sick, and the lame. A social justice movement was born.
In the 16th century, Martin Luther and others proclaimed the gospel as a message of hope. This helped birth an evangelical movement of preaching, missions, and witnessing.
In the 17th century, Quakers, led by George Fox, emphasized the presence of the Spirit in a Christian’s life. A charismatic movement was born.
In the 18th century the Moravian Church and those associated with it modeled a community in which faith and work were integrated. This was an example of an incarnational movement.
Also in the 18th century, John Wesley and colleagues formed a group nicknamed the “Holy Club” and began focusing on the importance of morality. It became a holiness movement.
Thus, over the years, the church has given different answers to the “one thing”:
The contemplative movement said the “one thing” was to spend time with God in prayer and meditation.
The social justice movement said the “one thing” was to help the poor.
The evangelical movement said the “one thing” was to share the gospel of Jesus.
The charismatic movement said the “one thing” was to welcome the Holy Spirit and nurture your spiritual gifts.
The incarnational movement said the “one thing” was to integrate faith and daily living.
The holiness movement said the “one thing” was to have pure thoughts, words, and actions.
Each emphasized a slightly different aspect of Jesus’ words.
But Jesus emphasizes something much more comprehensive. Meaning in life comes from engaging God in every conceivable way: through virtue, in meditation, in daily life, by the Holy Spirit, through service to others, through the Scriptures. Jesus identifies life’s greatest purpose as loving God with all of our faculties to their full capacity, and loving others as ourselves. That is why we are here. That is what gives meaning and purpose to life.
In his book, Sources of Strength, President Jimmy Carter writes of coming to know Eloy Cruz, a Cuban minister with an amazing rapport among immigrants from Puerto Rico. Carter asked him the secret of his success. Cruz said this: “… we only need to have two loves in our lives. For God, and for the person who happens to be in front of us at any time.” That is it. If you are passionately pursuing these two loves you are fulfilling your purpose. These two loves can remain when everything else is taken away. Your house can burn. Your job can restructure. Your children can leave. Your fame can fade. Your health can deteriorate. And if meaning in life is dependent upon any of those things, once they are gone, so is meaning. But even with those things gone, these two loves can remain: For God, and for the person in front of you. It’s not purely a matter of attending church, reading your Bible, giving money for ministry and charity, serving in a soup kitchen or a daycare. You can do all of that and still miss meaning. Jesus is not simply calling for you to beef up your church attendance, crank up your Bible reading, increase your giving, and spend more time in ministry to the poor. He’s challenging you to do something much more fundamental—pursue an intimate and consuming relationship with the one who made you, and pursue a genuine and heartfelt love for each person around you. That is the meaning of life. That is the one thing.
This is a lesson, I think, that becomes more easily grasped the closer we come to life’s end.
Not long before his death, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church:[7] “If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. Every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize; that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards; that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school. I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody.”
In August of 2006, Newsweek magazine interviewed Billy Graham.[8] One of Graham’s daughters, Anne Graham-Lotz, recounted a conversation with her father on the subject of aging. “All my life, I’ve been taught how to die,” Billy told her, “but no one ever taught me how to grow old.” She replied, “Well, Daddy, you are now teaching all of us.” Lotz also noted that she had learned an important lesson about aging after observing her father: “When you get older, secondary things, like politics, begin to fall away, and the primary things become primary again. And for Daddy, the primary thing is, as Jesus said, to try to love God totally and to love our neighbor as ourselves.” When we reach life’s end, all that will have truly mattered is the degree to which we’ve loved God and the person who happens to be in front of us.
