One Thing
To approach all our work as just work, not as a ladder to personal glory, we must love Jesus more than work.
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary" Mark 10:41-42.
We often find our lives are crowded with many legitimate responsibilities and our time is not enough for all. It often causes us frustration and irritation that we are unable to give due attention to everything we would like to do. So what is the solution? The world will tell us the solution is found in effective time management. Yes, they are partially right for all of us need to know how to schedule and use time wisely. But it is deeper than just a matter of skilfully using time. The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. The reason we are unable to be fruitful when life is crowded with opportunities is that our heart is distracted by many things. We often become like Martha, anxious and troubled about many things. We are often concerned about all things at the same time and try to do everything together and accomplish nothing in any area.
So what is Jesus' solution? He says we should make our hearts seek only one thing in life. He says, one thing alone is necessary. All our heart's attention, focus, energy, and effort need to be given ultimately to only one thing, says Lord Jesus. Do we really believe it? We must, for He is telling the truth.
What is this one thing? Jesus points to Mary as having chosen that good portion. We know that while Martha was having her hands full with many things, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus. Hence the one thing that is necessary in life is devotion to Jesus. Jesus never told Martha to stop doing many things. Rather, He was pointing Martha's heart to be concerned about one thing alone even while doing many things. So to pursue devotion to Jesus alone does not mean we don't do anything else. Rather, while we do many things, we are concerned about only one thing: intimacy with Jesus. It is because we are doing things on our own without fellowship with Jesus that many things make us anxious and unfruitful. But if we choose to fellowship with Jesus in all things, we can have a very busy schedule and still be fruitful.
How is this possible? First of all, when Jesus is our sole preoccupation in life, we are so satisfied with His love that we do not approach any of our work as a means of proving ourselves, gaining a name, or finding our significance. Without Jesus being our one thing, however, we often turn to our work with all the insecurities of our heart – to prove ourselves as either better than or at least equal to others; to get a name that gives us honour, significance, and security; and to feel approved or loved by others. But the love of Jesus which is entirely out of grace and not based on our performance frees us from the fear and shame of such failures. We approach all our work as just work, not as a ladder to personal glory. With our hearts being set free from this enormous weight, we are able to perform our various work without stressing ourselves. We can work on one task at a time and not worry about the other tasks before us. We become disciplined and productive. In short, in order to be productive at work, we must love Jesus more than work.
Secondly, Jesus says the good portion Mary has chosen will never be taken from her. Here is love which comes with true security. Without this security, we always stress out about failures and fret about disappointments. We become irritated and complain like Martha in her insecurity. But when we focus on the love of Jesus and believe with all our hearts that His love cannot be taken away by anyone in heaven, earth, or hell, we become anchored in that strong love. We are thus grounded to face unforeseen challenges and still persevere in fruitful labour, for nothing we face threatens our true security. If even some amount of human love makes any heart strong enough to face all of life's challenges, then how much more will the strong, unfailing, unconditional, ever-present love of Jesus? Hence Jesus is right, in life, we need to be concerned about that one thing only, the truly necessary thing, the true centre of our lives, the only thing our hearts should be preoccupied with - devotion to Jesus.
So, dear Christian, as your hands are full with many responsibilities, are you anxious and worried like Martha or are you choosing the one thing necessary like Mary? Put Jesus first above all and seek His fellowship in every single thing you do. Bask in His all-satisfying and never-dying strong love for you. Meditate the Scriptures and marinate your soul with the gospel of God's precious grace. Don't do anything where you cannot commune with Jesus and may His love so satisfy your heart that without stress or fear you can work. Let communion with Christ lead you today to fulfil all your work for His glory. Amen.