“One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.” ~ Luke 10:42 (CEB)
REFERENCE:
Our lives are often characterized by constant urgency. We are busy juggling work, family, and personal obligations (meetings to attend, crises to manage, calls to make, and emails to reply to). But amidst this turmoil, we often neglect our spiritual well-being, never finding time to pause and sit at the feet of the Master to be refreshed by His word and love. That is the better part.
Mary and Martha paint a picture of the conflict between the many things we are drawn to and the primary thing God draws us to do (time with Him). We see in them the conflict that goes on within many of us—do I respond to the many things seeking attention or spend time with Jesus? God is calling you and me to reorder our priorities. He wants us to choose the better part, the part that deepens our personal connection with Him.
The ‘Tyranny of the Urgent’ refers to how urgent matters needing attention crowd our lives, and we ignore the important things. Martha had a special guest in her house who ‘needed’ urgent attention, but she forgot that the guest came for her, not to eat her food or commend her culinary skills. We will always have to choose between the urgent and the important. The urgent screams for attention, but the important is silent; try never to ignore the silent one for the screaming one.
The tyranny of the urgent can rob you of the blessing of the important. Reverend Sam Adeyemi once told me, “Focus your attention on the important things, not on the urgent ones; else, you will soon have an emergency in your hands.” The world celebrates us for how many problems we can solve or what we achieve, but God is saying to you, “Come away with Me; be with Me.”
God invites you to take a place at His feet like Mary and learn. Spend time with Him so that your service to Him is borne out of your spending time with Him. We are made for fellowship, so God is calling you to return to your morning devotion—spending time with Jesus daily. Jesus calls this the better part. This important part (not the urgent part) is the better part; it is praying, studying, listening, meditating, worshipping, and fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.
PHOTO QUOTE
ADDITIONAL TEXTS:
Songs 7:11, Exodus 24:12-15, and Psalm 63:6-8
PRAYER:
+ Father, deliver me from the tyranny of the urgent and constant distractions.
+ Help me separate the urgent from the important and prioritize the important over the urgent.
+ I receive divine enablement to return to Jesus’ feet—the place of intimacy and devotion. I will settle down ‘there’ in complete dependence.
