Luke 10:38-42
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

What an amazing opportunity as Jesus comes to town and stops by for a visit—a personal Bible study with Jesus at their house. Mary is focused on Jesus and His teaching, but Martha frets about all there is to do. Her attention was divided. Her focus was elsewhere, and she even tried to pull Mary away to help her. But Jesus commends Mary for choosing the good part, for spending her time at Jesus’ feet and focusing on what was most important. He wanted Martha to recognize the value of stepping away from doing in order to simply be with Jesus.

We also have an opportunity every day for one-on-one time with Jesus, to sit at His feet and learn of Him by spending time in His Word. And we can choose to be encumbered with other things, or we can choose to be still and focus on the more important task at hand. We can choose to occupy ourselves with a multitude of daily tasks or let busyness interfere with our personal time with the Lord. Or we can choose to set aside time, sacred and purposefully carved out of our day and our schedule, to interact with Jesus.

Mary seemed to recognize what a special opportunity this was, so she could let those other tasks go for a time. It wasn’t every day that Jesus stopped by and she could sit so close and hear Him without distraction. Martha let herself be troubled by things that could wait, things that weren’t as urgent, things that wouldn’t benefit her as much as what Mary had chosen. So what about us? Are we fretting over all there is to do? Are we troubled by many things that we allow to pull us away from time with God? Or are we willing to make Jesus a priority, give Him our full attention, and engage daily in this necessary time of fellowship with Him?