One Thing is Needful: Choosing The Good Part

“... only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:42 NASB

Living life “simply sacred” is matter of setting priorities, of choosing what is best, but also choosing what is simple. This begins with an understanding  of the heart; the reaching down into our very souls to come to grips with this one concept: there is only one thing that is needful.  One Thing.  

When Mary and Martha were entertaining Jesus in their home, Martha grumbled to Jesus, resentful she was doing all the work getting dinner ready, and her sister Mary was sitting with Jesus, talking with Him - just sitting there! Martha wanted help, and complained to Jesus that it wasn’t fair for Mary to do nothing. I’ve been there - the one doing all the work while others are laughing and talking. Resentment bubbles up, chokes the smile, dims the eye. It is no fun being Martha, but hey - someone has to do it, right? Well, maybe….

I’m sure Jesus knew exactly what Martha was feeling. They were good friends, and he would have surely picked up on her rod-straight back, her tight lips, her angry eyes. He knew she would grumble, and he waited patiently for her to speak, — and I’m sure Martha smugly thought that Jesus would tell Mary to “go help your sister”. But no - Jesus didn’t respond as Martha expected.  He told her (I imagine very gently) that Mary chose “the good part”, which was sitting at His feet and listening to Him teach, and that it would not be taken from her.  

Just so, when we make Jesus the One Thing necessary - the One Thing that is needful, He will not take that away from us - no matter what else is going on in our lives.  If we choose the “good part”; if we make sitting at His feet and listening to him a priority; if we make Him our One Thing, He will be faithful through all our storms, through our trials and tragedies, through every valley in our lives.

How, then?  How do we choose the good part? 

We live in a time that is filled with opportunities and choices: hundreds if not thousands of choices face us every day- what to eat, what to wear, what news to read, what social media to follow, what movie to watch - and those are just the mundane choices.  The stakes increase when we talk about where to live, what house to buy, what car to drive (or should we even drive at all, and instead use bikes or public transportation?), where to send the kids to school, or what college to attend. If we are serious about living Simply Sacred, we need to choose among the many things in our life that might - that WILL - distract, that will lead us astray.  We need to choose; and choose intentionally - to make Jesus our One Thing. And we choose only those things in life that confirm our heart-deep-truth that there is always and only One Thing.

Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. She listened to him speak, oblivious to what else was going on around her. She soaked in His words; I imagine she asked questions, and delighted in His answers. Jesus didn’t care so much about the food - whether it was served hot, or whether the table was set “just right”, or the other social niceties of dinner with friends. He was about saving sheep, bringing new life, doing the work of His Father.  Mary’s choice was obvious to her; there was one thing she wanted, and that was to hear more of what Jesus had to say; her heart longed to soak in His words, and learn from Him.  She chose the One Thing - Jesus.  And He refused to take it away from her.

Jesus affirms for us, too, the choice to choose the One Thing.  He honored Mary’s choice - and in the same way, Jesus will consistently affirm for us our choice of the One Thing that is needful - when we choose Him.  If He is always our first choice, if He becomes our default in life - no matter what else is going on, He won’t take that away from us, and the blessings we reap in leading a simple life that is filled with the sacred will not be measured; it will overflow in abundance of peace.

By focusing on the One Thing, we reduce the stress of life’s overwhelming choices down to a small few things that help us to live a simple life that is filled with peace and grace - not with anxiety and worry. It’s a holy simplification of life because by using this simple phrase, One Thing Is Needful, we sift out what is not needful, what is not necessary. We take a deep breath, and relax. We live from this core truth that allows us explore a simpler life, a life that is sacred, no matter the storms that come our way. 

And that, my friends, is the true heart of a Simply Sacred Life.

Next week, a practical and sacred beginning: heeding Dawn’s First Call.  Join me as we step out and begin this journey of living simply; living sacred.