One thing is needed
Many of us are overwhelmed with schedules, commitments, choices, and distractions. People want you, problems and pressures drain you, performance affirms you, and peace eludes you. No one has ever had or ever will have as much to do as Jesus did. But He shows us how to set our hearts, to live in this world without being mastered by the expectations of this present age. He gets it.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)
Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses. He identifies with the temptations we face because He came into the world as the Son of God AND Son of Man but did not sin.
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’” Luke 10:38-40 (NIV)
This scene is familiar. We can all see ourselves in this situation. Martha is in charge. She’s the hostess, bearing the responsibility for presenting a welcoming atmosphere for Jesus. He is a personal friend of her family, and she is honored that He is in her home. Everyone wants to meet Jesus; they want to be associated and acquainted with Him.
Mary is sitting at His feet, listening to His words.
Martha grows agitated and resentful, asking Jesus if He cares and telling Him to make her sister help her. Does she see beyond the prestige of hosting Him? Is she consumed with performance and the desire to host a nice dinner party? Is her identity the 'hostess with the mostest,' or is she validated by the praise of others or feel pressure to please Lazarus? There are subtle ways we shift our sight off of Jesus and onto ourselves.
This story leaves me with hard but good questions.
Why have I let the world tell me it’s better to always be busy?
Why do I believe my value is determined by performance?
Why do I want to control the circumstances of my life?
Why am I unwilling to release the temporary and embrace the eternal?
“‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” Luke 10:41-42 (NIV)
Jesus gently and lovingly recalibrates the setting on Martha’s heart. He sees that she’s drowning in distractions and overwhelmed with details.
Mary has chosen.
ONE thing is needed—that good part—that cannot be taken away from her. Mary deliberately drops duties and releases expectations of people. She is fully present in His presence. She chose to be with Him.
How do we discern the "one thing"?
Martha isn’t a bad person.
How do we apply this familiar teaching to the demands of our reality? People want me to attend, accompany, participate, host, and join many things, and often I want to! The problems and pressures in life are real and have to be dealt with. Performance is often necessary. Where does that leave us with peace? Do we have it?
Let’s look at another day, in a different place, where the demands of people and pressures of the world were stirring all around Jesus. A day when He fed 5,000, sent His disciples away, went off alone, and a storm raged at sea. He met His disciples in it and said, "Peace, be still!"
“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” John 6:27 (ESV)
Choose to be fed by the word of God. His words save, fill, strengthen, grow, mature, sustain, heal, correct, guide, lead, direct your steps, and cultivate wisdom. His word sets your heart and soul on Him. Mary recognized the priority at that time was to sit at His feet.
“Be still, and know I am God…” Psalm 46:10 (ESV)
“...Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord…” Exodus 14:13 (NIV)
I want you to meditate on these questions:
How can you sit if you are always moving? Sitting in His presence is a Spirit led, supernatural activity.
How can you be still if you are always in a mad rush? He has to work IN you if He is going to work through you.
How can you know the priority of the hour if you are thinking ahead to the next?
Your thermostat has a setting to control the physical atmosphere. I want to encourage you to use this time to invite God to set the thermostat of your heart to control the spiritual atmosphere of your life.
Prioritizing Jesus today prepares you for tomorrow.
His presence is with you. His hand is gently resting over the settings of your heart. He wants to give you what cannot be taken away.
The world can’t do that for you. There are so many things that, at one point in our lives, we expected to be permanent but have been lost: health, youth, finances, jobs, titles, houses, friends, family, love, respect, and reputations, just to name a few. And yet, only one thing is needed.
