David says in Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”

David was a great king. He was rich, he had won many battles and he had a great reputation. Yet he said, “I am not satisfied. One thing I have desired of the Lord. It is not that I should become the king of the whole world, or that I should become a great preacher, or that I should become very famous. But one thing I have desired of the Lord that I may behold the beauty of my Lord, and that all my life I may keep on beholding more and more of His beauty”. Is that the one desire of our lives also?

In John chapter 20, we read of another person who also had only this one desire. That was Mary Magdalene. She went to the tomb very early that Sunday morning. Why was she not sleeping at that time? Why did she wake up so early, when it was still dark, and go to the tomb? Because she had one desire in her life, and that was to behold her Lord. We read that when she came to the tomb, she found it empty. So, she ran and told some of the other disciples. They also came and looked into the tomb, and then returned to their homes, perhaps to go back to sleep.

But Mary Magdalene stood outside the sepulchre weeping. You see, the disciples did not love the Lord as much as Mary did. The disciples, when they saw the empty tomb, went back to sleep. But Mary could not do so, because Jesus was everything to her. God needs people like that today, in the church. When the Lord Jesus came to Mary Magdalene, she thought that He was the gardener, and so she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away elsewhere, tell me where you have kept Him, and I will take Him away”(John 20:15). She was prepared even to carry away the body. Now you know, it would be almost impossible for a woman to carry a dead body. But so great was her love for the Lord, that she was willing to undergo any hardship for His sake. This is the meaning of “seeking God's face”. It means having only one desire - to behold the beauty of the Lord - and nothing else. It is not for me to be a rich man or a great man in this world, but just to behold the beauty of my Lord more and more, day by day.

I remember the story of a man who once visited a widow's house. She was a very poor woman, but she loved the Lord. She had four or five children, and she lived in a very small mud hut. The man asked her, how is it that your home is so full of joy and peace? You don't have much money. Your children are all half-starved, yet they are always smiling. You have so many difficulties and illnesses in your home and yet you are always rejoicing. What is the secret of your life? She replied, “Jesus Christ is everything to me. I don't need anything else in this world.”

Beloved, if the Lord Jesus Christ became everything to us, we also would be like her.