A while back I had the privilege of sharing a message I called ‘The ONE Thing.’
It tells the tale of two sisters, Mary and Martha, and their differing approaches to having Jesus in their home (Luke 10:38-42).
However, more than just a story, it is a message for you and me.
Amidst all the things we can devote ourselves to, Jesus said there is only ONE thing of necessity, the good thing, the better part, which will never be taken away from us.
So, what is that One thing?
Honestly, between Mary, Martha, and me, I have found myself oscillating from one to the other.
When I was young and carefree, I was a faithful Mary at the feet of Jesus. What could be more precious than spending time soaking in His truth?
But when I got older with kids to care for and a home to manage, I became the self-sacrificial, highly perfectionistic, work-driven, and often ambitious Martha.
In being a Martha, I often overlooked the One thing necessary.
In the guise of serving the Saviour, I forgot the call to sit and savour Him, who should be the very reason for our busyness.
It’s not that Jesus condones Martha for her productivity and cherishes Mary for her idleness. Nor does He prefer ‘sitting’ over ‘service’ and ‘worship’ over ‘work.’ After all, what good is it to be so heavenly minded but of no earthly good?
Jesus cares about the mouths we have to feed, the linen we have to wash, and the bills we have to pay. But sometimes, the many demands of our days and endless commitments entice us to develop a Saviour’s Complex — rushing around to be everyone’s hero, thinking that the world will stop spinning and the moon will not orbit were we to pause.
Jesus looked at Martha and spoke a word of love directly to her heart,
“Martha, Martha, you are concerned with many things. But only ONE thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the better part, which will never be taken away from her.”
Could it be that worshipping is eternal, and every other thing is temporal?
Could it be that there is a way to work that results from a collision with worship?
Could it be that Jesus is calling us to take a holy pause, to reflect, to sit at His feet, to listen, and gain perspectives on life from a completely different plane?
Take a moment today to make room for a holy pause. It truly is the sacred that sanctifies the secular and the holy that enables the daily.
Our Saviour is calling us to intimacy, not from the kitchen, where all Martha could see were pots and pans and hungry mouths to feed, but from the living room, where the sound of His voice resonates into every lonely and hungry heart.
Although the fear is real and the challenge is tough between time fought over work and worship, Jesus is asking us to sit, and then serve out of the overflow.
It is out of sitting and worshiping, not serving and working, that we are delivered from the bondage of time that keeps our hearts from truly rejoicing and our feet from truly dancing.