Few Things are Needed or Maybe Just One

(Read Luke 10)

Two weeks ago, we learned about my son’s friend T and his faith journey. We learned about how his trust in God’s perfection and his surrender of personal control led to the unequaled freedom and indescribable love of the gift of his daughter. This week, we’re going to learn about T’s wife M.

M is equally as bright and spiritually mature as her husband. Maybe it’s the school teacher in her, but as she was answering my questions, in the back of my mind I was thinking I wish I could be so articulate describing the Gospel when I grow up. T is the pure genius mathematician. M is a bit more social, outgoing, and daring. Anyone who is willing to take chances in the ocean has a place in my heart. On the first day of our beach vacation, she readily accepted a challenge to learn paddle surfing. I was so pumped!

She grew up in the Southern Baptist tradition. M experienced the warmth and familiarity of a small country church. M told me that she relentlessly probed the Pastor’s wife with questions from A to Z about everything. “She was patient, loving, wise, and inviting.” “At the age of 8, I asked to be saved,” she beamed. Both her Mom and her Grandmother were big influences in her spiritual life.

When she was younger, she was driven by an intense desire to please. “I had lots of guilt and bad thoughts,” she told me. “I always felt pressure of doing the right thing.” She confessed to her Mom to save her from her sins. “I confessed all my sins to Mom out of love and I really felt forgiven.”

As a kid, she attended an event called “Judgement House.” According to the parent organization, it’s purpose is to: “Equip the local church and other ministries with the ability to create a walk-through gospel presentation concerning the truth of people’s choices versus the earthly and eternal consequences.” M’s reaction was a little different. In my notes, I wrote “oops” based on her description and facial expressions. “I was so afraid of going to hell. It was visually disturbing and pushed urgency.” But it didn’t have the desired effect for M. She added, “It was calling me away from something, not pulling me to God. It motivated by negative forces.”

M shared that Luke’s account of Martha and Mary is an all too accurate reflection of her life. She explained that, “Martha felt anger and resentment about wanting to be busy and dutiful. Mary just wanted sit still and bask in the presence of Jesus.” M continued that despite her desire for perfection through works, “Jesus made the point of telling Martha that Grace won’t be taken from her.” I could see the importance of this lesson in M’s life. It was in her body language and in the emphasis of so many of her points.

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!”
Luke 10:38-40

“My family always worked so hard, so they deserved a well-behaved daughter. I was self-obligated to do right, to control my behavior.” She smiled, “Jesus taught me otherwise. The Holy Spirit was infused into me.” Listening to this, I wondered how many other young women and men feel this way. Doing what’s right because we’re supposed to or afraid not to? Or doing what’s right because we want to?

We talked about her growth as a woman and as a believer. “When I was a younger woman, I lived a more worldly life. Took selfish turns in my heart.” It’s astonishing to me, because the woman I had observed for a few days at the beach was selfless, radiant, and beautiful. The person we see in ourselves does not always reflect the person we’re going to be because of the Grace of Jesus.

There is such significance in being all in, being present in all the activities in our lives. Luke’s illustration of Martha and Mary highlights this so well. “Perfection is never God’s priority,” M declared. “Calling His people back is. I try to make choices today that might not show fruit in this life.”

M and T carried their faith through a long arduous adoption saga of their daughter. A teacher friend at their school suggested adopting. “We didn’t think we wanted to or were ready,” she explained. But T and M are people who listen to the voice of God. They tap into His wisdom. M added, “God must be doing something big. We need to step up.” It was a milestone setback during the process when the mother withdrew her consent. They prayed fervently. This happened a good ways into the process and the baby was already living with them. “We already loved her,” she said. With confidence, M looked right into my eyes, “God had it.”

Perhaps from her extensive traditional church background, M gets great pleasure from her time with liturgy. “I also pray the Psalms. I read and pray after each verse.” She unpacked the logic behind her process. “It’s a conversation that God started.” I love that statement and I now use it all the time.

M and T are deeply immersed in their local church’s community. She described how much love, fellowship, and support they feel from their sisters and brothers in Christ. “Someday, I would like to be more involved with mission work in the city,” she said. She is an achiever and assertive in her actions, so I have no doubt that she will deliver on that goal.

After about 45 minutes or so of instruction and paddling around, several dunks in the warm Atlantic, and a lot of laughs, M stood up on her first wave. She pumped her fists and hollered in the air. The satisfaction after achieving this goal was evident, although I feel that it was more the sheer joy of adrenaline from surfing God’s waves that fueled her happiness. Our conversation took place after surfing that morning and the smile hadn’t left her face. “I have no bucket list,” she said adamantly. “My hope comes from knowing this is unfinished. I use the gifts God gave me,” like paddle surfing I wanted to add. “For now, I’ll enjoy this temporary living until I reach His kingdom — thanks to His Gift of grace.”

M is one of those people we meet in life who bring adventure, fun, and electricity. Like Martha in Luke’s Gospel, she admittedly places too much emphasis on busyness and perfection. Working against this is an every day struggle for all of us. For a long time, she said that she created a work idol. Then, one day a boy changed all of that. There was an incident in school that changed everything for her. Her illusion of work being more important than it should be was shattered. God reminded her of priority. The young boy was God’s answer to her work idol. “My need to be perfect in work, in general, was broken,” she admitted.

“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 10:41-42

M enjoys when things are status quo. She likes when things stay the same. “Now I can pray every day for T and my daughter’s future and other things.” Where does she go from here? “All of me and all my flaws are given by the Lord. I praise God that we are so small we can be held in His hands because of How big God is.” M educated me in so many ways. I had a ton of fun from our paddleboard session and just getting to know her and her family. Most importantly though, from our conversations and re-reading the passage in Luke several times, I now understand Jesus wants us to know that many good things should not keep us from the one essential thing.

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
John 4:34-35

Key Applications:

1. Are you busy all the time? In all honesty, I am. It’s an area that I’m working on daily. Weekly. Monthly. What can you do to reduce busyness in your life? Try to streamline the less important things in your routine or simply eliminate them. See if you miss them.
2. Speaking of being busy, what are you busy doing? While Martha was busy preparing for Jesus, she was still distracted from time spent in his presence. Are you doing things because you have to or because they make you look good? They inflate your ego? It’s fine to be busy, but make sure you put first things first. God, family, friends, and everything else.
3. Read Luke 10. As you’re reading this, do you see snapshots of extra clutter in your life that is bogging you down? Things that are distracting you from the glorious face of your Savior, Jesus Christ? Pray about changing this. It won’t happen over night, but what is one thing you can change or lose right now?

Where else in your life can you live out the teachings of Christ? Look for next week’s Devotion.