Only One Thing Is Needed Lessons From Mary and Martha
Luke 10: 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!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10: 38-42
This powerful story tucked away at the end of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke contains many truths for us as Christians. Many lessons to remember and keep in mind as we walk with the Lord. As we progress through the story consider that we are both Mary and Martha in our lives after salvation. We are two sides of the same coin. We are a dichotomy which is defined as:
Division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups
How we balance these mutually exclusive sides of ourselves will help determine who we become in Christ. Too much of either will always come at the expense of the other and both are vitally important.
Starting with Martha, we see that Martha is representative of our service unto the Lord. She is our work, for Christ. Sometimes we can think that because our salvation is not based on works, that works are unimportant but that is not true:
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2: 14-17
Our Christianity requires something of us. It means that we can no longer look at the injustice and pain in the world the same way. Faith is absolutely crucial for our development of relationship with God but without action to show the world that faith, we become an end to our own means.
