One Thing I Ask is to See God's Beauty (Psalm 27:1-14)

"The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?" (Ps 27:1) "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" (Ps 27:4).

1. Confidence (Ps 27:1-3). Whom shall I fear (Ps 27:1)?
2. Desire (Ps 27:4-6). One thing I ask (Ps 27:4).
3. Plea (Ps 27:7-12). Hear my voice (Ps 27:7).
4. Confidence (Ps 27:13-14). Wait for the Lord (Ps 27:13).

God is one (Dt 6:4). I have one life. Regardless of what happens, do I have one desire? One passion? One direction? One motivation? One trajectory of life? One heart? One Lord? One faith? One wife? One family? One church? Rick Warren says, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." Paul says, "my only aim" (Ac 20:24) and "One thing I do" (Phil 3:13).

Wow!!

Christ is Beautiful - Augustine

"Christ is beautiful wherever he is. He was beautiful in his miracles but just as beautiful under the scourges, beautiful as he invited us to life, but beautiful too in not shrinking from death, beautiful in laying down his life and beautiful in taking it up again, beautiful on the cross, beautiful in the tomb, and beautiful in heaven." Augustine.

A Woman's Beauty (1 Peter 3:1-6)

"Your beauty ... should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit..." (1 Peter 3:3-4).

"What a beautiful woman she is! She is the kind of woman any man would want to marry!" This was my immediate thought when I heard the story on the radio years ago of how James Dobson (of Focus on the Family) came to marry his wife Shirley.

(Related posts: Marriage as Unjust Suffering, The Search for One True Love, Abraham Lincoln's Very Unhappy Marriage.)

Before marriage, Dobson and Shirley, both Christians, were dating in college with the understanding that they would marry in the future. But when Dobson had to serve in the National Guard he proposed to Shirley that they keep their options open when he was away on duty, and that they could each date other Christians if they wanted to. Because Shirley was in love with him, this shocked her. But she did not express it or react to his "hurtful" proposal. On their last date before he left, he wanted to kiss her good night as he usually does at the door of her house. But she politely refused. Rather abruptly, she went home and closed the door. This surprised Dobson. What he did not know was that after she closed the door she cried all night. But she did not reveal any of this to Dobson. Then when Dobson was away on duty, he did not date others. Instead, he kept writing her over and over, while she was quite lukewarm in her response to him. As a result, Dobson kept pursuing her until they married. Isn't Shirley the kind of woman with the poise, mystery and beauty that any man would want to marry?