Morning Dew
Key Passage: Luke 10:38-42
Key Text: Luke 10:42 – “but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
One of the greatest lessons of life is the lesson of priority. We are daily confronted with many noble and laudable duties that make a demand on our time, so we invariably have to make choices as to what we can honour and attend to. In this we practice the art of prioritizing. Some of us do this quite deliberately, whilst others just get on with it without giving it much thought. What we decide to give our time for is what we have considered to be the more important things in our lives. If you fail to prioritize correctly something’s will suffer and we may pay dearly for those things we compromised.
There is no doubt at all that God expects us to place Him at the top of our priorities. This is not in question. But do you know why? Before I supply the answers, let us examine our story today. Jesus goes visiting Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. These were Jesus’ friends. He loved to hang out in their home. On this particular occasion, once he came in, Martha jumped straight to the kitchen to get food and drinks ready to entertain this important friend and guest. On the other hand, Mary just sat at Jesus feet and looked at Him, listened to Him and just took in His presence. Martha was quite cross with Mary and demanded that the Lord send her to the kitchen to help her in preparing the food. Jesus answer was quite revealing. He said “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
In order words, Martha, there is only one priority. First get to know Me and get to receive what I have for you, before you start assuming you know what I need. Besides your sister Mary has chosen to know me and what she has received, no one can take away from her. Only one thing is really needed, My presence!
Many people try to serve God, but refuse to spend time with Him. Quite honestly, this is not the right order. Get to know God and then you can serve Him. Devotion before duty.
Whatever the demands on our time, we must always find time to spend with God. He is the Alpha and Omega (The beginning and the end). He is before all things and in Him all things consist or exist. If we spend time with Him, He would order our day. If we spend time with Him, He would take care of all our other conflicting issues. God must be FIRST!
David said in Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
David made the pursuit of God his singular motivation in life. No wonder God said David was a man after His own heart. Just think about that for a moment. David lived to know the heart of God and to reflect that heart in His life. You can’t know someone you don’t spend time with.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 – Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Martin Luther King Junior, the great civil rights leader said something like this, ‘each day I look at my itinerary and how many things I need to accomplish, I decide to go and spend an extra hour with the Lord, so I can achieve all I need to do in the day’.
Lastly, one of the greatest reasons for spending time in God’s presence and prioritizing God in our lives can be found in Psalm 16:11 – You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Three things, 1. We get directions for life 2. We get joy which is fuel for the journey 3. We receive delightful things that last forever.
He is number one and He alone really truly matters!!!!
Let’s pray: Father God, I chose this day to make you my number one. No one and nothing is more important in my life. You are my priority. Please Father, help me to remember this and never to make excuses that I am too busy or even overwhelmed by the demands on my time. Father, thank you for reminding me today to put You right on top where You belong in my life. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
This is so timely, so apt, so encouraging.
Thanks Pastor!
Thank you. This will be worth re-reading frequently to realllllly make a habit of keeping no.1 in its place and stop changing the order of things, and trying to justify that, so frequently.