by David Scott Robertson
(Luke 10:41 KJV) And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
(Luke 10:42 KJV) But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
I got up on time.
I slid into my favorite chair.
I got out my Bible.
I read passages from the
Old Testament,
New Testament,
Psalms,
And Proverbs.
I read today's quota of the classic Oswald Chamber devotional
"My Utmost For His Highest."
I turned on some praise & worship music
And sang along with three or four songs.
I prayed for my wife and daughter,
My pastors and church,
My country and for the peace of Jerusalem.
Then I hit the showers and headed off to work.
In your estimation,
Do you think I had what you would judge a successful "morning devotion?"
Do you suppose my time with the Lord
Was really a time with the Lord?
Can you see anything I missed?
I'm certain the reader could quickly identify
Any number of missing elements
In my morning meeting with God -
Depending upon your spiritual or religious tradition.
For example, you might recommend
Partaking of the Lord's Table (holy communion),
Dancing before the Lord in worship,
Praying in the Spirit (in tongues),
Journaling my prayers,
Speaking scriptural declarations out loud
(You always pray God's will when you pray God's Word),
Or perhaps sitting quietly in silence and listen for the Spirit's still, small voice.
All of the above are excellent embellishments
To any devotional time spent with the Lord.
My point today
Is the same as Rabbi Jesus' point to Martha regarding Mary:
"And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).
The one needful thing…
Is to get the “Word of the Lord.”
God can speak to us while we are in our favorite chair
Reading passages from the
Old Testament,
New Testament,
Psalms and Proverbs.
God can speak, and often does, to us
Through incredibly moving praise & worship songs.
God can speak to us through
Oswald Chamber's classic devotional "My Utmost For His Highest,"
Guideposts,
The Navigator's Discipleship Journal,
Or a comic strip in the Sunday funny papers.
HOW He chooses to speak to us
Is not nearly as important as
THAT He speaks to us.
The one needful thing
In my and your devotional time
Is to actually communicate with God.
Communication is a two-way street.
We talk, God listens.
God talks, we listen.
Have you noticed that sometimes God's voice seems evasive?
Now I'm not one of those "hyper-spiritual people"
That has angels show up in my bedroom every night for 30 days
To tell me great and mighty things that I knowest not.
Please understand that I don't have a problem with that,
And would love to have the experience,
But my faith is not rocked if I don't.
To me,
The one needful thing
Is to take responsibility in my relationship with Father God
To do what Mary did and got commended for...
To sit quietly at the feet of Jesus and
Pay attention,
Listen,
Hear the words of the Lord…
Be they corrective, instructive, or encouraging in nature,
And then apply them to my life.
The one needful thing
Is to get in and stay in God's presence,
To drink it in,
To hang out with the Master.
Just being in the presence of Jehovah
Is a soothing, calming, settling, satisfying, and fulfilling experience.
In His presence there is fullness of joy
And at His right hand there are pleasures evermore (Psalm 16:11).
Doing the one needful thing --
Simply hanging out with Jesus and listening on a regular basis,
Has the potential for His will and ways to rub off on you
And generate a testimony like that of two of Jesus’ close buddies, Peter and John:
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say” (Acts 4:13-14).
The one needful thing
I need to learn about the presence of God
Is that it's not limited to any particular space or time or routine.
All day, everyday,
Anywhere and everywhere,
The Lord can (and I believe desires to) appear on the scene
And transform the ordinary into the extraordinary,
The natural into the supernatural.
Oh, the power of His presence!
So as we approach our time of "devotions,"
Let us strive for a "moment-by-moment relationship" with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Expect to hear from Him daily, hourly, and why not even “moment-to-moment”
(or shall I say from “glory to glory” as promised in 2 Corinthians 3:18?)
Expect to hear from Him
In a variety of means and methods
And don't get stuck in a rut,
A habitual ritual
Or some religious tradition
That demands God to do it a certain way every time.
Sure as you and I do that
He'll upset our applecart of religious expectation
And speak through a donkey or some other unorthodox method!
But whatever you have to do,
By all means do
The one needful thing.
"And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him" (Luke 9:35).
DSR
8/5/02