Choose Wisely

Psalm 15 / Luke 10:38-42

Other Good Things

Perspective

Business

Everyone should aim to spend 20 minutes in prayer daily, unless it is a busy day. In that case, pray for an hour.

Tell her!

God invites all our prayers, but sometimes our prayers are answered like Martha’s request. Martha was so focused on what she was doing, she was missing the most important things going on, like literally spending time with Jesus.

Circumstance

Meat

Rom 14:21 “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.”

Romans 14:23 “But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

1 Corinthians 8:13 “Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

Water

“Is it a sin to drink water?” And the answer is that it could be.

Drinking water when you should be giving a glass to someone else in need — that is sin. Drinking water when you should be paying more reverence to the preaching of God’s word — that is a sin. Drinking water when someone just warned you that it is contaminated and might kill you — that is sin. So drinking water can be sin. - John Piper (APJ 2013: Is Drinking Alcohol a Sin?)

Serving

Hospitality

Family

Entertainment

The Community

The Church

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Even good things can be an obstacle or hindrance

The Good Portion

Priority

Colossians 1:17-18 “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”

Christ is preeminent

Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Preciousness. Worth. Priority!

Satisfaction

Psalm 15:5 “who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.”

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him

Security - v42

Luke 10:42 “but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.””

We cannot lose that which we do not hold.

Psalm 95:7 “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,”

John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Those who by God’s prompting choose to seek Him will always be found and kept safe forever.

Those who are in Christ who continue to choose to seek the good portion will experience blessings and glory that will echo for all eternity.

What is your choice today?

Will you choose the good portion? Will you be saved, be blessed, and be secure forever?

Or will you never lift your eyes heavenward, continue to be consumed in the business and distraction of this life and miss out on things of eternal significance?

We see in Martha not a great and notorious sinner, but an understandable and relatable woman who got distracted from what was most important. I pray God will give us eyes to see what is most important today, and in our lives.