Monday, October 08, 2012

One Thing

41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” — Luke 10:41–42 (NASB95)

Properly understood, Christianity is by no means the opiate of the people. It's more like the smelling salts. —Timothy Keller

I’ve experienced smelling salts only once. When I was a young boy, I was ill with a very bad cold. Feeling faint one evening, my mother managed to find a bottle of smelling salts and she thought it would do me good to take a whiff. One was enough, but it did clear my head and help me focus.

Perhaps that’s what many people are missing today, the ability to focus. They’re not awake enough. I don’t mean they’re actually sleeping, but they might as well be. They’re dozing through life unaware of the most important things possible.

That’s what made Martha’s sister, Mary, such a good example for us. Mary was focused. While Martha busied herself with mundane tasks of the household, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and opened her mind and heart to him. It made all the difference in the world.

If you could focus on just one thing, and that thing was the most important, the most enduring, and the most life-altering thing in the world, do you think you could manage it? If the God of the universe would, for just a moment, reveal himself in human form, would you pay attention? Would you sit at his feet and listen, drinking in words from the one whose word brought the whole creation to exist? Would you try to understand, to really understand exactly what this divine messenger would say? That’s the opportunity you get with Jesus.

If I could tell you one thing to focus on, it would be Jesus Christ. The man. He came into the world man and God. He spoke truth as none ever spoke it. He lived without the flaws that plague us so deeply. He died, not because he deserved it, but so you could live. He rose from the dead to say to us that death is not the final power. God is. And God saves.

If I could point you to one thing that has the potential to fill your life, to satisfy your deepest longings, to lift you above all despair, and reveal God’s eternal purpose for you, I would point to Jesus Christ. Savior. Lord. High Priest. Choose Mary’s good part.