Only ONE Thing...

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It is a fight, isn't it? To remember that One Thing that Mary chose...to forget all the other demands on her and to sit at Jesus' feet.

I was brought back to this passage again today, as I struggled to just sit and be still for even a few minutes.

Why can't I focus? I asked, trying to make headway in my reading through the middle of Isaiah.

The answer was in my spirit almost before I'd finished forming the question.
You are bothered by many things...only one thing is needful.

So I turned to Luke 10 and reread the little vignette of Mary and Martha. In the NIV, the tail end of verse 41 going into 42 reads this way:
You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.

I looked up the Greek words for 'worried' (Strong's 3309 - merimao: anxious care) and 'upset' (Strong's 5182 - turbazo: disturbed in the mind, anxious, stirred up) then realized the contrast Jesus was making wasn't in Martha's mind set or attitudes...it was in the numbers: 'Many things' vs. 'One thing'.

Jesus wasn't talking about Martha's fluster, He was talking about her focus. Martha was trying to focus on many things...Mary was focused on one. The Good part.

Over and over again, God teaches me through these sisters...

Lord, you know my heart. The part that really, really wants to please You and that part that really, really wants to please people. And the part that wants to represent You by being a servant that somehow blends the two. But I don't have enough wisdom to balance it all myself. I need your help. Because this battle isn't with any one or any thing or any circumstance...it's in my own head, choosing to stop and focus on You when everything else...many things...are demanding my attention. Resensitize my ears, Lord, that I may hear Your voice amid the clamor, and strengthen my will to turn aside at that moment and focus on You alone.