Luke 10:41-42 "Martha, Martha..."

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.'"  (KJV)

It's very easy to be worried and troubled about many things today. From the scripture above, we can see that not much has changed since Jesus' time. There is always so much to be concerned about. Sometimes it can feel like there are not enough hours in the day to be concerned about everything that needs to be taken care of. Many have demanding jobs while trying to have a quality home life spending time with the family and meeting their needs. Then there are the tasks of grocery shopping, cleaning house, doing laundry, yard-work...  The list can go on and on.  It was the same for Martha.  Jesus had come to her house and she wanted to fix a great meal for Him.  Who wouldn't?  Any born-again believer wants to do their best to please Jesus.  The problem was that Martha was trying to please Jesus in her way.  The fruit of her labor resulted in her becoming angry and resentful toward Jesus and her sister Mary (Luke 10:40).  She even accused Jesus of not caring!

Jesus knows we have a lot on our plates.  He knows there is much to be concerned about and He was fully aware of all that Martha was doing, and He did care.  He cared so much that He gave her (and us) the answer to triumphing victoriously in her (our) busy schedule.  It was only one instruction.  God's ways are so simple.  Jesus said in Luke 10:42 that only ONE thing was needful, and that was what Mary had chosen to do, which was to sit at Jesus' feet and hear Him speak the Word.  Mary wasn't worried about the meal and preparations.  After all, Jesus had fed 4,000 and 5,000 people with a few fish and loaves of bread (Mark 8; Luke 9)!  She wanted to bask in His presence and not miss a morsel of what He had to say.  She knew everything would work out just fine.  This pleased Jesus greatly.  He told Martha that He would not take that away from Mary.

Jesus is pleased by the same actions today for He does not change (Hebrews 13:8).  It pleases Him when we put Him first and feed upon His Word.  He knows how important it is for us to hear His Word.  Jesus told the devil in Matthew 4:4 that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  Jesus even said His body was like bread and told us to take and eat (Matthew 26:26).  It pleases Him when we do so. 

I can attest by my own experiences that when we do that one thing that is needful, putting God and His Word first, everything else, no matter how busy just falls into place and God works it out.  God really does care about us so much so that He even knows the number of hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30)!  Amen!