City Life Starter

Written by Efe Abbe

The Word

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, and was listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do the serving by myself? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; but only one thing is necessary; for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42 (NASB2020)

Reflection

As an older sister, I relate to Martha. We older kids think of ourselves as the responsible ones and often think that the more we do, the more value we bring. So we fuss when our siblings (and others) appear to avoid doing their fair share consequence-free, just like Martha.

Martha just barely accuses Jesus of not caring about all she’s doing to serve Him and His ministry. Talk about irony! Jesus, God’s Son became a man to serve humanity by dying on a cross but Ms. Martha is going a hundred miles per minute that she misses out on what’s in front of her: the infinitely eternal God made man is in her home, giving His undivided attention to her sister Mary, who has ‘abandoned’ her and the serving to be with Him.

In Jesus’ response to Martha, you can hear the tenderness with which he gets Martha to settle down from being distracted and worried. My best friend calls moments like this shepherd’s crook moments. When an errant sheep gets off the path and the Good Shepherd lovingly yet firmly draws it back in. 

Application

According to Jesus, in this moment only one thing is necessary and it is the good part – prioritizing being with Him.

So where does that leave the business of being human? The breakfasts to be made, the school drop-offs, zoom calls, small group gathering, and ministry activities?

Good and necessary as these may be, they are all to be rightly ordered in relation to The One who is Essential.

I’ve already admitted that I’m more like Martha in this regard and maybe you are too. Like Martha I have allowed duty let me miss out on moments of experiencing my Maker’s devotion to me. In the aftermath of my dutiful busy-ness, what I’ve felt toward the Lord resembles entitlement and not loving devotion. Thankfully, I too have had shepherd’s crook moments of being called back to the good part.

What would you give to experience God’s undivided attention and devotion today? Hopefully everything because the key to unlocking our hearts’ devotion to the Lord is to first experience the depths of His devotion to us. He has given everything so we can be with Him (1 John 3:16). 

Prayer

Dear Father, please help me stop being too busy for You to be with You. Help me increasingly grow to want You as my One Thing. Amen.