What is Most Important to Jesus?

Martha and Mary’s story always fascinate me every time I read it. In case you don’t know, here’s what happened. 

Jesus visited Mary and Martha – and Martha chose to serve the Lord with a meal, whilst Mary chose to sit at His feet and listen to Him. Martha complained that Mary was not helping her serve the Lord, and Jesus said “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful…” 

The one thing needful evidently is that which Mary chose—that good part which should not be taken away from her. Very clearly this was to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear his word. This and nothing less, this and nothing more. 

The mere posture of sitting down and listening to the Saviour’s word indicated, in Mary’s case, a readiness to believe what the Saviour taught, to accept and to obey, indeed to delight in the precepts which fell from His lips. And this is the one thing that is needful. To sit at Jesus’ feet implies faith as well as submission. Mary believed in what Jesus said, and, therefore, sat there to be taught by Him.

Martha on the other hand chose to serve Jesus, yet she had not sat at His feet to ask what He wanted. What if He was not hungry at all? What if He did not eat the type of meal she was preparing? “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41a). 

That wise warning may be very useful to many of us. The truth is that we can’t truly serve Jesus until we have received instructions from him. It is in receiving instruction from him that we will know how we should serve him. To attempt to serve Jesus without first sitting at his feet to learn of him is like putting the cart before the horse, if you do this, there will still be movement just that it will be backward rather than forward. 

Dear believer, have you chosen the one thing that is most important? Are you sitting at the feet of Jesus to learn of him or you’re just busy trying everything to serve him outside of his instructions?