“The Lord answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:41-42)
Mary chose the good part. She was “listening to the Lord’s words, seated at His feet.” (Luke 10:39) She was enjoying the Lord, being refreshed by His Presence and changed by His words.
Jesus said this was the one necessary choice. All the rest of life will flow out of this vital relationship if we will just make it our priority. Necessary means something you cannot do without.
Martha hadn’t made that choice. She loved the Lord but she was “distracted with all her preparations.” (Luke 10:40) Jesus implied that she was living the bad part; serving Jesus without enjoying Jesus. Giving and giving and giving without receiving from His Word and Presence. Distracted from the glorious One by our busy lives that are supposed to be in service to Him.
Have you ever fallen into this trap? Life gets busy. Priorities get mixed up and pretty soon the urgent rather than the important starts dominating our lives. We stop really living and find ourselves barely surviving.
We usually, like Martha, find someone else to blame. “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” (Luke 10:40) What’s she really saying? “Lord, don’t you see that I’m burnt out – do something! It’s Mary’s fault! or the church’s fault or my spouse’s fault or my boss’ fault”…the list goes on.
Jesus is gentle but firm: (my paraphrase) “What Mary has, she has chosen – she has chosen and she has chosen correctly. I’m not going to take away her joy because you’re miserable. Martha, you too can have what Mary has. Choose to fellowship with Me. Let your service be fueled by My Presence.”
Jesus said, “Come to Me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) Do this one thing and continue to do it and everything else in your life will take its proper place.
One Thing 