But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

                                                                                                     Luke 10:41-42 

Today: Read Luke 10

There is absolutely nothing wrong with service. All believers are called into service of some kind as is appropriate for their gifting. But when the serving becomes primary and the One in whom we are serving is eclipsed by our busyness we can find ourselves unproductive and spiritually lacking. Today we find two women representing two different outlooks on prioritizing.

Martha had invited Jesus into her home. As with most conscientious hosts, Martha wanted everything to be just right. Her sister Mary also welcomed Jesus into the home and immediately seized an opportunity to sit at His feet and listen to His words. Martha was busy making all of the preparations while Mary remained at the feet of Christ. Conventional wisdom might suggest that Mary was shirking her responsibility by not helping her sister, but Jesus’ words allow us to dismiss this idea. At one point, Martha got so frustrated with her sister’s lack of assistance that she expressed this displeasure to Jesus. Consider her words:

“Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all of the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”

No doubt doing all of the work was wearing on Martha’s patience. But Jesus’ response lends a fresh perspective on Mary’s actions:

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

According to Jesus, what Mary was doing was prioritizing time spent with Him over any type of service to Him. Let that sink in for a moment. Jesus would rather have us spend time with Him as we begin and go throughout our day. The things we do to serve God are important but were never designed to take the place of a vibrant, personal, and intimate relationship with our Savior. Jesus described Mary’s choice as “the good part” and referred to it as the only thing actually “necessary.”

What needs to be made very clear at this point is that the world needs people like Martha. She represents the doers while Mary is representative of the planners and contemplators. We need people like Mary but without people like Martha, nothing would get done. But Martha’s frustration was born out of an attitude of believing that she was being mistreated and neglected by her sister’s apparent apathy toward the preparations but Mary was merely demonstrating her devotion to Jesus.

We can use marriage to illustrate this point. I have had the privilege of performing quite a few weddings and it has been my experience that in most cases the majority of the time and money is spent on the wedding ceremony and celebration to follow. The most important part of this occasion however is the biblical instruction on marriage and the vows that the bride and groom are making to one another. While there is nothing wrong with people planning “the wedding of their dreams,” it is the institution of marriage that should be the priority and focus of the ceremony.

Mary demonstrates for us that time spent with Christ is the most important thing that any of us could ever do. Time spent in fellowship with God is never a waste of time. Are you a Martha or a Mary? While service to God is important, spending time with God should be the overarching theme of our lives. May you experience the blessing of God as you prioritize time spent with Him!