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!”
“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 10:38-42)
Can pretty much everyone relate to these scriptures in the bible? I know I can, and as much as I wish I could say I am more like Mary, I can’t, unfortunately I tend to relate with Martha, especially being a stay-at-home, homeschool mom of almost 4! Now of course this situation is specific, I mean imagine Jesus and his disciples coming to your house, I would be cooking, cleaning, trying to make sure the house was in perfect shape. Usually if anyone is coming over, I go a little crazy before they come, but Jesus and his disciples would be a whole other level! I totally could see myself saying, Timothy, I need help! I can only imagine Jesus, in His calm way, speaking those same words to me about only one thing needed-Him. Mary was focused on the only One who mattered-Jesus. All the other things were secondary to Him.
Isn’t this life? So so so many things that can rob us time, whether its the household work, children, work, cell phone’s, relationships, I mean I can go on and on and on. Jesus was speaking to the greater message of this passage as He always does. What is the lesson? That we can get worried and upset about many things- but only ONE is needed, and that is Him. Now all these “distractions” I listed earlier aren’t necessarily bad, but, if we don’t make that time to spend with God, outside of these things and make Him priority, these other things can definitely take up our time. I am writing this blog because I am speaking to myself in this area I have been convicted in lately, especially with a baby on the way I am in full nesting mode trying to get so many “things” done. What does that even mean though compared to just spending time with my Father? One time Timothy was just going to run errands, and Elijah wanted to go, so I asked him, “Elijah, why do you want to go, it’s going to be boring?” He replied, “I just want to spend time with my Dad”. Holy Spirit spoke to me clear as day and just reiterated the importance of spending time with Him. I was also in a time where I felt like I was in a desert, and all I needed was a drink. Imagine being in a desert for weeks, and you have food galore, but all you want is a drink of fresh water and its right in front of you but for some reason something (or the liar) is holding you back? Can that not be life sometimes? He is always with us, but we need to just realize that and take the time to spend time with Him.
David also used this illustration in Psalm 63:1:
You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
Let’s earnestly seek Him, and seek the One who gives ultimate satisfaction, in dry land parched and, God can quench our thirst and nothing else. Let’s not waste time and go right to the source that gives us life and life abundant!