“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).
Though both sisters loved the Lord, Mary and Martha were remarkably different. “Mary . . . sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving . . .” (Luke 10:39, 40). Can’t you just see Martha scurrying about preparing food and attending to all the other duties of a proper hostess? Meanwhile, Mary sits in rapt attention at Jesus’ feet, engrossed with His every word.
Luke’s word, distracted, means drawn away. Martha’s attention was drawn away from Jesus and His teaching by the many things she felt compelled to do. So absorbed was she with her serving that she became irked at Mary for not helping her, and even scolded Jesus for tolerating Mary’s behavior (v. 40).
Jesus gently replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things” (v. 41). In his “Word Studies in the New Testament,” Marvin R. Vincent says that “worried” expresses Martha’s inner uneasiness, while “troubled” emphasizes the outer confusion and bustle which characterized her. Jesus continued: “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (v. 42). The opposite of being distracted, then, is to be calm and focused, like Mary was.
In our fast-paced, impatient, hurry-up world, maintaining a calm focus on the Lord is difficult indeed! All sorts of things distract us. Many are good things: employment, recreation, education, and civic concerns, to name a few. Faithful Christians can and should be involved in such matters; but we must now allow any of them to distract us from the Lord. Not even the basic necessities of life are to become worrisome: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ . . . But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:31, 33).
Let us maintain our focus on the Lord. Let nothing distract us!
–Joe Slater
