THE NECESSARY OR THE NEEDED…

Luke 10:41-42: “The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, [42] but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”  CSB

OBSERVATION:  Is my life being moved by the necessary or the needed?  When I look at my daily activities, when I balance my finances, when I review my calendar, are my days filled with what is necessary, or are they rushed chasing what is needed but what could be done later?  In other words – am I walking after the Spirit or am I being driven by the demands and desires of the flesh?

I struggle with OCD.  I like everything in its place and everything straight and tidy.  My wife kids me when I straighten the salt and pepper shakers at a restaurant.  When I used to travel for work the first thing I would do when entering a hotel room was to straighten the lampshades which were always crooked.  All of my books in my bookcase are straight and flush.  This is not something I am boasting about.  It is something that I have battled.  It is the tyranny of the needed – that has pulled me away from the necessary.

You see, I know that it really does not matter in light of that which is eternal whether a lampshade is crooked or straight.  To straighten a lamp shade is needed (for me) – but it is not necessary.  When I get to heaven the Lord will not greet me with the words – “Well done thou good and faithful lampshade straightener.”  So many are hard on Martha when they read these verses in Luke chapter 10.  Martha was so busy trying to make sure everything needed to meet Jesus’ temporal needs was in order. 

Yet, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet and chose what was necessary.

I love how Jesus dealt with Martha.  He did not rebuke her.  He spoke to her lovingly and with compassion.  He understood what drove Martha.  When He said her name twice it was with love and compassion.  Martha had the wrong focus.  She was consumed by the needed and blind to the necessary.  She was more concerned with the external than the eternal.  Martha was like a believer who is trying to please God through works when God is calling them to faith.  True faith will produce good works, but they will be good works that are led by the Spirit, not driven by the needed!

We have so many labels for everything today.  I was a hyperactive child with the need to keep everything straight.  If you promise you will not laugh I will confess something.  As a child, when I took my shoes off, I would make sure the sidewalls of my tennis shoes were clean, tie the shoelaces, and then put them under my bed completely straight.  I was every mother’s dream.  Yet, today I would be labeled ADHD and OCD.  I don’t let labels identify who I am.  Yet, I have struggled to sit at Jesus’ feet.  There is always something I know that needs to be done.  My devotional life was a struggle for years and years.

It was out of desperation that I cried out to God.  In essence, I was saying – “Help me be like Mary!”  I need to choose what is necessary and not what is needed.  The needed will always be there.  It is the necessary that will help me define and triage the needed.  When I put God first, when I choose the necessary, when I spend time in His Word, in prayer, in worship – He orders my day!

Psalms 37:23: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.” NKJV

The L.I.F.E Devotional Plan was born out of this struggle.  (You can download a copy of this plan on our website at https://www.localchurchdynamics.org/outreach-pamphlets.)  I began to make my devotional life a priority.  It was not easy and I struggled like Martha.  At first, all I could see was what needed to be done.  Yet, all that needed to be done would never produce anything of eternal value.  The carpet would get dirty again.  My clean car would drive over another mud puddle.  The lampshades would need continual straightening. 

The only thing that was of eternal value, the only thing that was really necessary, was to spend time with Jesus.

I found the Lord beginning to order my steps.  My priorities changed.  I was no longer being pushed by the tyranny of the urgent.  I was being gently guided by the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.  Spending time in God’s Word and journaling became my delight.  What was my last priority became my first priority.  I exchanged my “Martha” lifestyle for a “Mary” lifestyle.  It did not mean I never did the needed things.  It only meant that I was not driven by them anymore at the expense of the necessary things – the eternal things.

So many today are letting labels define and control their lives.  I could be bound by my ADHD and OCD but instead, I am set free by my SFL  (Spirit-filled life, and yes, I just made that up.)  Yet, isn’t this exactly what Paul is telling us in the opening verses of Romans, chapter 8?

Romans 8:1-4: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in  Christ Jesus,  [2] because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.  [3] For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh,  God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering,  [4] in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”. CSB 

What I could not do because of the weakness of my flesh (my labels) – I am able to do in the power of the Holy Spirit!  God does not drive me through guilt.  “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.”  The Holy Spirit is like an eternal GPS.  He will warn me when I am straying onto the wrong path (focusing on the needed) and lead me back onto the right path (choosing the necessary).  I don’t have the strength within me to do this.  It is Christ in me that is changing my life. 

He has erased the limitations of my labels and given me a new name – Child of God!

This does not mean I live a life without struggles or temptations.  I can easily slip back into my old patterns.  Yet, when I put God first, when His Word is renewing my heart and mind when my spirit is tuned to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. Like a plane that weighs tons and tons and is lifted by Newton’s third law of motion – the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus lifts me above the tarmac of life and allows me to reach new heights that I never thought were possible.  I cannot do this alone or even with the help of another person.  I need Jesus!  I need the Holy Spirit. 

I need to remember that I am a Child of God the Father and He is for me and not against me.

This morning I must ask myself – am I living like Martha or Mary?  I believe they both became a little more like Jesus that day.  I believe Martha grew to embrace the necessary and Mary grew to help her sister with the needed.  This is purely conjecture but I feel pretty confident in saying this.  You cannot spend time with Jesus without your life being radically changed!

Heavenly Father, help me to always choose the necessary before the needed.  Help me to choose Jesus!

Revelation 3:20: “See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” CSB

In Jesus’ Name!