Times catches up with all of us. For Mitch Robbins, turning 39 was especially hard.

He says to his boss, "Did you ever reach a point in your life where you say to yourself, This is the best I'm ever gonna look, the best I'm ever gonna feel, the best I'm ever gonna do, and it ain't that great?"

Mitch is hurting and worried about a great many things like many people today.

Over the years, he and his best friends (Ed and Phil) have done all sorts of adventures but Mitch sits at age 39 and has lost his smile.

Mitch's wife Barbara tells him, "Go away with Ed. Take Phil. I am giving you these two weeks[in New Mexico doing a cattle drive]. It's my present. Go and find your smile.

Learning About "Your One Thing" From Curly

While on the trail, Mitch is riding alongside of Curly. To Mitch, Curly is "That is the toughest man I've ever seen in my life. Did you see how leathery he was? He was like a saddlebag with eyes."

Curly tells Mitch "There's nothing like bringing in a herd."

Mitch smiles and responses with, "See, now that's great. Your life makes sense to you."

Curly laughs and proceeds to tell Mitch how he is like so many people that come out to this two-week cattle drive. Mitch and others are so caught up in their day-to-day life, "getting knots in your rope" and hoping to untie them in two weeks.

Curly turns to Mitch and asks a question we all want to answer "Yes" to, "Do you know what the secret of life is?

Like so many, Mitch is clueless about what the secret is. Curly hold up his index finger and eventually explains, "Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean s#!t."

For Curly, he was content to be a cowboy. He didn't want to settle down. He had found the secret for his life.

After this conversation, things begin to change for Mitch as some of his knots come untied.

Finding Your "One Thing" In Christ

You, me, all of us need to find our "one thing."

As followers of Jesus Christ, we

#1.Prioritize doing God's will. ...

1 Timothy 2:3-4, "This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

1 Thessalonians 4:3, " For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;"

1 Peter 2:13-16 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

#2. Pay attention to your passions.

There are many that tell you to follow your passions. This guidance needs to checked against what Jesus tells us in Matthew 15:18-19. Jesus declared, "But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."

Jeremiah 17:9 also reminds us that, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? "

We need to make sure that we live out the first part of Psalms 37:4 tells us "Delight yourself in the LORD." The second part ends with "and he will give you the desires of your heart."

When God (The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are our passion, He will give us the desires of our heart which is to do what He wants us to do.

We are told in Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

When Passions Are Godly

We see people driven by their passion throughout Scripture:

In the first chapter of Nehemiah we see how passionate Nehemiah was about rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem which had been destroyed. In Nehemiah 1:4 we read, "As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven."

Paul was passionate about reaching the Gentiles with Jesus’ message. In Philippians 1:21-24, he tells them "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account."

#3. Pray for wisdom and discernment while surrounding yourself with wise counselors

Seeking wisdom is vital. We only know what we know. When we seek out wisdom, especially from wise counselors, we are able to pull from a larger experience base.

James 1:5-6 tells us, "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

Proverbs 11:14 reminds us that "For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers."

Proverbs 13:10 teaches "Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice."

We read in Proverbs 15:22 "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

#4. Distinguish Between Talents And Spiritual Gifts.

Every person in the world has a least one talent but not everyone has a spiritual gift.

In an interview, Will Smith stated "Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft."

Spiritual Gifts are given to Believers and may or may not overlap with natural talents and abilities.

Passages that talk about spiritual gifts
• Exodus 31:2-5
• Psalm 150:3-5
• Exodus 15:1, 20-21
• 2 Samuel 6:14-15
• Colossians 4:12
• Ephesians 1:16
• 2 Timothy 1:3
• 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
• 1 Corinthians 12:27-30
• 1 Peter 4:9-11
• Romans 12:4-8
• and Ephesians 4:11-13

What Will You Do To Find Your One Thing?