Do you remember the movie "City Slickers" where Billy Crystal's character (Mitch) is alone with Curly (played by Jack Palance)?Curly is giving Mitch some advice about life.
Curly: "Do you know what the secret of life is?"(holds up one finger) "This."
Mitch: "Your finger?"
Curly:"One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean [anything]."
Mitch:"But, what is the 'one thing?' "
Curly:"That's what you have to find out."
What is the "one thing" that is the secret of life?
I wonder if you have found that "one thing" that is the secret of life, that one thing that means more to you than anything else. Why not make a list? There’s your marriage. There’s your children, your family, and your friends. There’s your business, making more money, saving for retirement, or sending your kids to college. There’s more time off to enjoy life, relax, go fishing, and to take it all in.
What is your one thing? What is your guiding light? What is your DNA? What is that one building block of your life that shapes who you are and who you are becoming more than any other thing? What is the DNA that your children and grandchildren will inherit? What is that one thing that will shape who they become?
Maybe this will help you out. What is that one thing you never say "no" to? What is that one thing that crowds everyone and everything else out? What drives you? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What do you find yourself thinking about at night when you go to bed? What do you worry about? What are you anxious about?
I’ll give you a clue. It competes for your affection. Itclamors for your attentionandit’s a filter through which you make most decisions."How will my one thing be affected if I accept this responsibility?" At times your one thing even competes with God, and at times it replaces God. And your one thing isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself.
Is your spouse, your child, your friends, your business, advancing your career, saving money, or enjoyinglife bad? Hardly!
Life is filled with many good things.
Part of our challenge is that this life is filled with so many good things. It’s like going to a really good buffet. "I like this.I like that.I want some of this. I want some of that." Before you know it, your plate is overflowing with so many good things. So you begin stacking things on your plate. Or you try juggling two plates. Or you get a big tray to try and hold all the good things. "Forget the plates and trays," you finally say to yourself, "I’ll just pull up a chair next to the buffet. I’ll just stay here and graze."
The truth is that most people haven’t found that one thing that truly satisfies and brings deep meaning to life. So we keep filling out our plates with more stuff! We keep spinning plates hoping they don’t come crashing down on us. My work. My career. My success. My love life. My children. My television. My computer. My cell phone. My space. My facebook. My internet. My clothes. My home. My tools. My treasures. My things. Something has to work! There are so many good things to choose from.
Martha's "one thing" was staying busy.
There is a short, but interesting story in Luke 10:38-42 that I think we can all identify with.Luke 10:38-40 (NIV) begins, "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' "
I think many of can relate to Martha. Her one thing was staying busy. Martha was anything but an idle woman. She was responsible. She was hard-working. She was industrious. She kept a clean house and tight ship. She was the Proverbs 31 woman—trustworthy, dependable, always working with eager hands, storing up food and supplies, providing for her family, grasping the spindle with her fingers, giving to the needy, trading with the merchants, saving up and buying a field, respected by the city elders, and hospitable. She wasa good person and a good citizen by every possible measure, an ideal home for Jesus to visit!
When Jesus and his twelve disciples, hungry as they must have been from a day of travel, showed up a Martha’s house, she went above and beyond. She immediately lined out all sorts of preparations. "They need the sand washed out of their feet. They'll need bread, they’ll need fresh vegetables and wine, and they’ll need pots of meat. They may need their clothes washed and they’ll need a place to recline.I need to rearrange the house for so many visitors. I need to get things picked up.I need to sweep the floor. Oh,and maybe I need more than one type of meat, and extra vegetables, and extra wine."
Imagine the pressure Martha was under to fulfill her social obligations. "Jesus is here with his twelve disciples! Mary, we have so much to do! Mary? Mary?"
Mary's "one thing" was opposite of Martha's.
Mary was the opposite of Martha. When Jesus came over to their house, she just went on in and sat down with Jesus. Some help she was! Mary was oblivious to everything that had to be done. Or perhaps worse, she was choosing to ignore everything that needed to be done. Do you have anyone like Mary in your family? Someone whostrangely disappears when work is to be done? Mary was just in the other room sitting at Jesus’ feet, hanging on his every word, listening to his stories, and enjoying his company.
Martha’s DNA was to stay busy. She was proud, hard-working, and self-important. Her sense of identity was in doing things, and doing them well. That no oneseemed to appreciate her contribution (not even Jesus, not even Mary) irritated her. Isn’t it frustrating when our one thing doesn’t really seem to matter to anyone else? When Martha could stand it no more, she marched into the room where Jesuswas reclined and snapped,"Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
She must have thought that it was a great move. "I can elevate my own self-importance, embarrass my lazy sister Mary, and evoke empathy from my guests. Finally someone will notice the work I'm doing."
So, long before Curly and the producers of "City Slickers" ever thought it up, Jesus says in Luke 10:41-42 (NIV), "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things,but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Don’t glance too quickly over the way in which Jesus addresses Martha. "Martha, Martha." How difficult it must have been to break her preoccupation with the many things racing through her mind. "I have to do this andI have to do that." Not only that, but Jesus had to get back behind her emotions. She was worried about fulfilling her social obligations. She was deeply upset at her sister. Sometimes it's hard even for God to get our attention.
And now Jesus is telling her, "...only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Jesus has a way of gently rebuking those he loves.
Martha had traded what was best for what was only good.
Mary had been sitting at Jesus’ feet. The text tells us that she just kept listening to Jesus’ words. She wasn’t distracted by her environment. She wasn’t distracted by any social obligations. She wasn’t racing throughout the house doing chores while the Lord of the universe sat in her living room.
Martha wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t doing evil. In fact, our homes, our church, and our community would benefit from the industriousness of more Marthas! But Martha’s problemwas thatshe traded away what was best for what was good. She chose what was good over what was great. She chose to be preoccupied with the physical instead of the spiritual, with the temporal instead of the eternal, and with the finite instead of the infinite. She chose to exalt her own needs, her own sense of importance, and her own priorities over sitting at the feet of Jesus, taking in his words.
Isn’t it interesting how a good thing—being responsible, being industrious—can keep us from the one thing, the ONE, who can truly give us meaning and fulfillment in life? Martha was unhappy. She was bitter. She was tired and worn out. She was coming to end of her strength, and for what?
Mary assumed a posture of worship.
Unlike Martha, Mary assumed a posture of worship. She meditated on Christ’s every word. She listened with an open mind and open heart to Jesus' words. And she kept listening—even to the point of ignoring the expectations of others. She didn’t care that it was inappropriate in Jesus' culture fora womanto sit at Jesus' feet. She didn’t care about fulfilling a more traditional womanly role—making bread, or whatever. Mary was preoccupied with the eternal, with the spiritual, and with the bread of life! She wasn’t going to work for food that spoils. She wasn’t interested in the preparations of this life. Mary’s one thing, her DNA, was preparing for life eternal. Her one thing wasexalting Christ.
There is a need today for us to attend to Jesus' words, just as Mary did. There is a need for us to sit at Christ’s feet, in undivided and unhurried devotion to our Lord. There is a need for us to hear Christ’s words fully, and apply his words to our lives, and not be distracted by the expectations of the world.
Our greatest duty and privilege is to exalt Jesus in our lives.
One author wrote, "The way of Jesus is one of devotion and dedication, both in following him and in heralding him. But the way is not, on that account, a matter of assiduous ‘religion’ and frenzied service, of busy-ness and incessant good works. It means not achievement, but commitment; not activities, but attitudes; not quantity, but quality. The 'way' means to be with Jesus, to learn of him, and to know him." - Wilcock, M. (1979). The Savior of the world : The message of Luke's gospel (124). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.
The greatest thing is giving ourselves to Christ. Not just giving our energy, our works, our service, and our gifts, but truly giving ourselves to Christ. Before he wants any "thing" or "activity" from us, he wants us. We need to be careful that we don’t crowd Christ out of our lives with all the other good things we want to put on our plate. Our greatest duty and privilege is to exalt him over everything in our lives and our world.
Charles R. Erdman writes: "While the Master does appreciate all that we undertake for Him, He knows that our first need is to sit at His feet and learn His will; then in our tasks we shall be calm and peaceful and kindly, and at last our service may attain the perfectness of that of Mary when in a later scene she poured upon the feet of Jesus the ointment, the perfume of which still fills the world."