By 
Luke 10:38–42 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Yesterday I spoke about finding time for God in a world of distraction. You can read that post HERE. This morning I found my friend Martha. I am like her, are you? The Lord Jesus comes into town and she welcomes him into her home. While he is there, he begins to teach in the corner of the living room. This is not a convenient time at all for Jesus to teach she thinks; I mean, there are things to prepare and work to be done. Worse than that is the fact that her sister does not even care that Martha is in the kitchen trying so hard to make the meal, set the table, and prepare to host Jesus and his followers. “Look at her over there, Mary is just sitting, listening to Jesus while I do all the work!”
The more Martha works, the more flustered she becomes. Finally she has enough and marches out of the kitchen and strait to Jesus. She made such an entrance into the living room by the way she pushed through the doors, everyone is now silent and starring at her.
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me,” Martha says.
Can you see Jesus curl up the corners of his mouth, slouch his shoulders, and breath out a slight sigh of sympathy. He walks over to Martha and answers, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
I found this portion of Scripture because of my search for the word distracted. It is the one time it is used in all of the Bible and means to be pulled all around in many directions. Martha was distracted. Jesus defines her distraction as being anxious and troubled about many things. He tells her that the remedy for distraction is choosing the one thing out of the many that will not be taken from her. The food and drink she was preparing would soon be consumed in the bellies of her guests and gone. Soon after the meal, Jesus her guest would be gone. After his departure, Martha’s tummy would be hungry again and she would need to prepare yet another meal. Mary her sister would hunger as well, yet she had the sustaining words of Jesus residing in her heart that could never be taken from her. She had chosen the one thing that never would change; truth.
We can become anxious and troubled about many things. Jesus tells us that only one thing is necessary. When our external world seeks to spin us around in a hundred different directions; when our mind spins round and round like a stone in a sling; Jesus comes and whispers that the stone needs to be slung and released upon one object. Let it go this morning. Release the stone upon this one truth. Jesus wants you to know that there is only one thing that will not be taken from you, and that one things is HIM.
Leading Family Devotions 