"One
Thing Is Needful "
David
A. Cox
If the question was asked,
"What is the most needed thing in your life?" the responses would most
likely be varied. In Luke 10:38-42,we read of an incident that occurred in the
life of Christ, when He visited some of His dear friends in Bethany. The friends
were Mary, Martha and Lazarus. During the visit of Jesus, Martha was doing
everything to make Jesus 'visit enjoyable. But as Martha was busy, her sister
Mary was sitting at Jesus 'feet and hearing the things He taught. In a moment of
frustration at her sister 's apparent lack of concern, Martha asked Jesus to
tell Mary to help her in the serving she was doing. Jesus responded,
"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 "(Luke 10:41-42). I
want to focus on the statement here that Jesus made," One thing is
needful."
In life there are so many
things that demand our attention. It
may even seem that these things are of great importance and they may be. As in
Martha 's case the serving of her company was important, but she failed to
realize that something else was of even greater importance. It may be that even
in our own daily affairs of life that things such as work, school, etc. cloud
out what is truly the most important thing. Jesus made it clear to Martha what
the proper priority should be. It was the very thing that Mary had chosen. It
was that "good part "Mary chose that Jesus compared to the "many
things " that troubled Martha. The
"many things "in this passage refers to the temporal or physical
things of this life and the "good part "deals with the heavenly or the
eternal things which "shall not be taken away."
This is an important lesson
for us to learn that while we must attend to physical things, let us not become
preoccupied and lose sight of the one thing that is needful.
Mary in choosing the
"good part "had not lost sight of her priorities. She was absorbed
with the spiritual and eternal things of God.
Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth from the mouth of God "(Matthew 4:4). Mary understood this
and was not sidetracked by the physical things around her.
Let 's remember this great
lesson that Mary teaches us and not neglect the things that will help us to
build a spiritual and a close relation-ship with God. Let 's read and study our
Bibles, feeding on the word of God daily. Let us be faithful in our attendance
with the saints on every occasion possible. Go regularly in prayer and
communicate with our Father in heaven. Remember
our close relationship with God is the key to our enjoying the abundant life now
(John 10:10) and the joys of heaven for eternity (John 14:1-3).