One thing is needful

Luke 10:41-42

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Jesus, in this story, visits Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, whom He dearly loved and often spent time with. Martha received Him into the house and began serving. She was a servant! She was wired that way and governed by that disposition. She always was up and about making sure all things were in order. What a wonderful trait this is! To be a servant! Jesus said that he that is greatest will be the servant. So this is a wonderful characteristic that should be present in all of us—the desire to serve. But Martha had another trait that is not so enviable. For you see, she became cumbered about all the things that she was doing so that she could not give attention to the very presence of Jesus being with her in the house. She was distracted by her service. Oh, this is so easy to do! She was careful and troubled about many things, as Jesus told her. And therefore, in the midst of her diligent service and faithful solicitude she forgot something that, in that moment, was the most important thing.

You see, she wanted Mary to help her! She demanded of the Master, “bid her therefore that she help me.” Tell her to help me with my work! Not realizing that Mary actually had the better part. She became cumbered about and therefore could not spend time with the Lord. The Lord told Martha that Mary had “chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” He was not going to keep her from spending time with Himself just because Martha wanted help. And the truth is that, as Jesus indicated, Martha should have chosen that good part as well! Jesus was in the house! They should have both been at His feet listening and learning. Now, my friends, always know that service is what we all must be doing every day. We should serve others, help others, and most of all, serve the Lord. But all that will be useless and powerless and only cumbersome if we do not learn to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn. Dear friend, whatever you have on the list to do today may be a great thing and a profitable use of your time, but it is only going to be used by the Lord as it ought to be if it is accompanied by time with the Savior. Sit at His feet before you do any of those things! Learn from Him first. Spend time alone with Him, and you shall draw from that well the rest of the day.

“Dear Lord, we thank You for time with You every day. Please, Lord, may we never neglect that time with You. Help us not to substitute that which is best for that which is good. Serving is required! It is what we are called to do! But how much better that service is when it overflows from our time spent with the Lord. Help us to learn today that one thing is truly needful. And we ask these things in Jesus’ name, Amen.”