One Thing

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. It emphasizes rejecting fear and embracing faith in God. The story of Mary and Martha is used to illustrate the importance of prioritizing relationship with God over worldly responsibilities. The transcript encourages seeking God first and experiencing His love and rest. It reminds listeners that they are valuable and loved by God, and encourages them to declare one thing they did that God loves about them. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Luke 10.41-42 Jesus answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her. Jesus was not a popular man with the religious elite, but he was far from friendless. There were the twelve disciples, of course. There were also about seventy others. Luke 10.1 They would go along with him, although they were not part of the inner circle of the twelve. As they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. Luke 10.38 This must have been an intimidating gathering. That is a lot of mouths to feed. Hospitality, known as Hach Nathat Orchim in Hebrew, is considered one of the most important Jewish values. Jerusalem was particularly well known for hospitality, and this certain village was only a few miles away. It would have been completely beyond reason not to be hospitable. Mary, of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus fame, was the elder sister, as seen by being the one to receive the visitors into the home. Both sisters would have prepared food and space for the visitors to sit, recline, and rest. But at a certain point, Jesus began to speak. It was at this point that the sisters went different directions. Martha continued to provide hospitality, working hard to ensure that her house was providing for these visitors. One can imagine not only that it would have been important to be hospitable as good Jews, but also to be good toward Jesus, who was a good friend of the family. even before Lazarus was raised from the dead. It would be hard to make sure everyone's needs were met. There would have been a lot of work to make sure all the rules and stipulations were being followed, plus everyone likes to give a good showing of their home, to be well thought of as a hostess and a provider. It must have been almost overwhelming. But once Jesus started talking, Mary was captivated. She had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. Verse 39. Now this is the same Mary who anoints Jesus' feet in Matthew 26 and Mark 14. Mary loved the Lord, and a lot of that love meant that she paid attention to what He said. Jesus was always teaching. Not that He couldn't have fun and pass time being playful, but there is evidence of God all over the place, and He had a heart to make sure that no one missed any opportunity to see His Father. Everything about Jesus pointed to His Father. John 14, 6-7. We don't know what Jesus was teaching here, but there is the implication that He wasn't just chatting. Now both sisters were doing things that were right to do. Both had prepared the home to receive visitors. Martha was working at being hospitable, something commanded to the Israelites to do, Leviticus 19, 33-34 and Isaiah 58-7. Mary was listening to teaching from the Lord who was teaching them the words of the Father. This was also commanded to the Israelites to do, Joshua 1-8, Proverbs 3, 1-2 and Psalm 119, verse 105. But Martha wasn't just doing what she was supposed to do. She was letting what she was supposed to do take over. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to Him and said, Lord, don't you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me, verse 70. I don't think she was rude. I don't think she was cold. I think she was warm. She was loving. I think she honestly just wanted some help to do this thing that was a service of love. Jesus must have smiled up at her. How often did He hear words like this? How often did the question of works come up? Works to justify oneself to God and also works as service to God. We can't justify ourselves, but we are called to work in the service of the Lord. For all we do to be of service to Him, Colossians 3, 23-24, we must always be careful not to let the work overtake the service. When we lose sight of why we do, what we do becomes a burden. Jesus answered her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her, verses 41-42. But one thing is needed. How often is it that one thing separates what we are doing from what we are supposed to be doing? This one thing is something that weaves its way through the entire ministry of Jesus. It continues to weave its way through everything we do and all that we know about the kingdom. Every time we see the words one thing, we should take note of it because it is always an important principle that we have forgotten. Here, Martha had forgotten that no matter what we are doing and what services we are performing that are right and good to do, nothing should take the place of the Lord in our hearts and mind. The one thing changes slightly every time it appears, but it is only so that we can see different aspects to the one thing that is more important than all else. But don't forget this one thing, beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3.8 Time with the Lord is well spent. Time with the Lord Jesus is also timeless. There are moments we spend that are normal, ten minutes or ten minutes. There are other moments where a lot more than we perceive is packed in. Ten minutes were for us an hour. If we remember this, it will free us from the idea that we don't have time for the Lord. Martha was weighed down with the burden of providing. There was only so much time for the meal, only so much time that Jesus and His followers would be with them, only so much time that they had to be of service to these people. But the important thing was there was only so much time to take in wisdom from the Word. If we make time for the Lord, He will make time too. Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in your hearts and in your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it. Joshua 23.14 All God's promises come to pass. He can declare a desire to you, a thing He wants you to walk in. It is your choice whether or not you pick it up. Your choice to walk in the fullness of that Word or not. We're not robots. A promise, however, doesn't require our free will. A promise is simply a declaration of what is going to come to be regardless of whatever we think or do. It's different from a declaration. It's different from a command or a request. All the promises of God come to pass. Not always when we think or in the way we understood them to be, but not even one thing of them fails. He therefore answered, I don't know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. John 9.25 Sometimes all we know is the goodness of God, the reality of the way He moved in our lives. We don't always have words to explain it. As humans, we love to understand. We have a need to categorize everything. I believe it's a fallout from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge out of season. It's almost like our flesh and our very nature is trying to justify the choice we made, as if knowledge will somehow save us. But regardless of our love of knowledge and our desire to categorize, the things of God can defy all our theology and hermeneutics. We can't always explain it. Sometimes we simply know God did it. We can point to what is, but not explain how. And that's okay. We're not called to define, but to faith, to believing that God can. It's the key that helps unlock our mind from the flesh to the spirit, from thinking of ourselves as flesh that can touch the spiritual, to realizing we are spirit that is currently in flesh. Brothers, I don't regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3, 13-14 The Lord needs to be in our hearts. We need to give Him time. We need to believe His promises. We need to believe that the Lord can and will do, regardless of human reasoning. We need all these things because we are called to walk in the paths of the Lord, to follow the way. Rabbinical tradition refers to the entrance of the outer court of the tabernacle as the way, where the bronze altar is located. Bronze in the Bible typifies judgment. The star or cross altar stood between the entrance of the outer court and the inner court, where only priests could serve. It was where the altar of incense was, where prayers were offered to the Lord God. Beyond that, to the Holy of Holies. Jesus called Himself the way, John 14, 6. We must always remember that it is through and by Jesus that we press through to the holiest place, the throne of the Father. Jesus pays for our sin and gives us His Spirit, so we can be purified and consecrated as priests before Yahweh. There we can praise and pray and worship the Lord God. If we forget that one thing, we'll be milling about the courts and not pressing into the Father, where it is our right in Jesus to stand, Hebrews 4, 16. When Jesus heard these things, He said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me. Luke 18, 22. Lack of the one thing can keep us from walking where we are called. More than that, it can keep us from where we need to be. This young man obeyed the law, kept the commandments and walked in righteousness, in deed and word. But in his heart, he was more attached to things than to the Lord. Milling in the courts of the temple of the Lord on earth or in heaven is great. It's wonderful, and it is a privilege that we should be thankful for. But it isn't the end point. It is wonderfully not enough. We need to be not just where we are permitted, but where we are called. It's no good to be in the courtyard if we are to be in the building itself. The courtyard may be infinitely better than the wasteland, but it isn't the goal. We need to inhabit not only where we are called to be now, but where the Father wants us to be in the future. That means we need to maintain our position as we move forward. We do that only by staying broken before Him, knowing that we are not enough and relying on Him, putting Him first, His ideas and judgments, His statutes, His morals, His plans, leaving behind our all and following His all. That means taking up our cross, Matthew 16, 24-26. It comes with a cost, but it will be repaid plus more in heaven. That reward shouldn't be our motivator, but we're told about it so that the cost doesn't dominate our thinking. One thing I have asked of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the Lord's house all the days of my life to see the Lord's beauty and to inquire in His temple. Psalm 27, 4. When our hearts are right, we have our priorities right. That is why we are told to enter His courts with praise, Psalm 104. We praise not to actually praise. The praising that we love to do so much is the preparation for praise. It is the actions we do so that our hearts come into alignment with the Lord. So that we are ready to really worship. It is what helps us walk into the throne room. It is what enables us to stay in the place where we can hear from Him. It realigns our priorities to where they should be. It is such an important tool. If there is not enough praising in our day, we aren't focusing where we need to. We can praise when we feel like it and when we don't. When we want to and when we had rather not. The act of choosing to sing to the Lord out loud or in our hearts will drive our feelings back into the flesh where they came from. As we focus beyond what we can see and feel. As we focus on the things of the Lord. When our priorities are right, we only want the one thing that matters. Relationship with the Father. O that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for. Job 6.8 We need to focus our minds through our hearts, not through our flesh. Job was seeking a single thing. He was focusing on that request above all else. Unfortunately, that one thing was rooted in his flesh and what was happening rather than the Lord and what really mattered. We need to renew our minds if we want our minds to be ordered on the proper scale. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing and perfect will of God. Romans 12.2 If we are not choosing to let the Word get into us through reading, listening and study, then God has no opportunity to transform us. Yes, He can talk to us. Yes, He can deliver us. Yes, He can meet us where we are, and it is always a glorious miracle when the Creator enters time and space and walks beside us. But how much greater a glorious miracle that He not only calls us, but equips us to renew our minds by letting Him transform us. How much greater a miracle that He allows us to exit time and space and walk beside Him, to meet Him where He is, When we let Him renew and transform us by meditating on Him, on His Word, our cry to Him is pure and holy. Then we are able to always worship before Him. How lovely are your dwellings, Lord of armies! My soul longs and even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Psalm 84, 1-2 In Leviticus 14, 14, the priests cleansed someone cured of leprosy, or performed the final act of the cleansing, by anointing their right earlobe, right thumb, and right big toe. Then they poured anointing oil on them. Verse 17 In Leviticus 8, 22-24, priests were anointed to be priests by having blood dabbed on their right earlobe, right thumb, and right big toe. This consecrated them holy to God. In 1 Peter 2, 9-10, we're called to be a priesthood. Just as leprosy was a disease cleansed from the body, so too is negativity and fleshly desire cleansed to make us pure in motivation as we can be pure in body. We need the blood of Jesus to cleanse and consecrate us so that we can serve with pure hearts humbled before Him. Sometimes it takes effort. After anointing, the priests had to stay in the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days. We need to submit to the Lord and make our flesh submit as well. We have the tools, but we need to apply them. Take money. This world is built on a network of money and the idea that money can do anything. But if we free ourselves from that, Hebrews 13, 8, by submitting to the Lord in all things, our minds can be set free from the love of money. Money is fine. It's an arbitrary system of value. Nothing wrong with having it or having stuff, but not to love them. Only God deserves our love. Why not renew our minds to the reality that the Lord is beside us, one small step from our side, just enough room for us to bow our knee and worship? Why not renew our minds to the reality that we can enter the courts of heaven with thanksgiving and praise before the Father Himself, as beloved children, as obedient servants, as priests? If we persevere in this one thing, pursuing the Lord God Almighty before all else and all things always, we will get the one reward that matters. He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son. Revelation 21, 7. It is a journey. It is a path to tread. We may step off, but the Holy Spirit is within us to comfort and correct us, to help us back onto the path for our next running step, to move ever forward, always onward, ever putting Yahweh God before our eyes, ever seeking His face, putting this one thing above all. By Jesus, through Jesus, and in Jesus, we can be victors and overcomers. We can be true worshipers of Him. Amen. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Revelation 3, 21-22. What do we get when we take our cross and follow Jesus? What is the end result of all our fighting principalities and powers in the battleground of our mind, of dying to self on a daily basis so that we can journey in His sanctification, of struggling against compromise and choosing to follow His commands and statutes and observe His observances? We overcome. We get to rest. In the ancient world, when one sat, it was finished, done, complete. Jesus was resurrected to sit at the right hand of His Father, 1 Peter 3, 21-22. Here on earth, we are motivated by rest from toil. We live for the weekend, work like monkeys for our vacation times and deserve our little daily rituals of relaxation, be they a soaking bath or a beer. Here in this life and in the life hereafter, we will get true rest from our toil if we'll focus on the one thing that matters, the one thing from which everything flows. Jesus doesn't ask us to strive for nothing, and He provides us with the only true rest there is, Himself. This is the peace that passes understanding, Philippians 4-7. This is the peace Mary had, Luke 10-39. This is the peace Paul knew, 2 Corinthians 4, 17-18. This is the peace awaiting all who abide in the Overcomer of the world, the Name above all names, Jesus, the Anointed One of God. Seek Him first. Seek Him always. Seek Him today. As we close, remember that you have birth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this, God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent His only-born Son into the world, that we might live through Him. And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear, too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. He can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.