Daily Devotionals

Mornings and Evenings with Jesus

Devotional: January 16th

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.

WE are here called upon to behold blemishes in character which we are to shun, excellencies we are to imitate, and advantages we are to acquire. Martha, who had mistaken our Lord’s character and desires, and thinking nothing too good for our Lord and his disciples, had provided an entertainment which was not only unnecessary, but which engrossed all her time and attention, and thereby deprived herself of an opportunity to listen to our Saviour’s discourse. In her anxiety to do all that she considered the occasion required, she was “troubled about many things, being cumbered with much serving.” While her sister Mary-all reverence, all attention, and all composure-was feeding on the doctrines of eternal life, sat at the Saviour’s feet, thus wisely improving the opportunity given for the good of her soul, Martha rudely disturbed the devotions of the company, and interrupted our Lord’s discourse, in her haste and heat loses her self-command; she condemns her sister as idle and indifferent, and asked the Lord to interfere, saying, “Bid my sister that she help me.” Jesus, instead of doing this, reproves her, while he applauded the conduct of Mary.

However anxious we may be about many things, one thing alone is really indispensable, and demands our attention. It is hearing the Saviour’s words; it is an attention to the soul; it is religion. Other things are comparatively insignificant, and less than nothing and vanity; this is all-important. Other things are accidentally needful; this is essentially so. Other things are occasionally needful; this is invariably so. Other things are partially needful; this is universally so. Needful for prosperity and adversity; needful for the body and the soul; needful for time and for eternity. Some things are needful for some individuals but not for others, but this is needful for all. Needful for kings and subjects; needful for rich and poor; needful for old and young.

While the many seem to be prizing and pursuing every thing in preference to this, we find David and Paul reducing every concern into one. “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” “This is one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before.”

Observe, piety is a matter of personal conviction and choice. Thus, it is said, “Mary hath chosen that good part.” Thus, David says, “I have chosen the way of truth.” No man ever entered into heaven accidentally; no man was ever forced into it against his will. God makes us sensible of our need of salvation above every thing else, so that we desire it, we seek it, we pray for it, and then, when we obtain it, it makes us blest. It relieves our wants, fulfils our desires, and accomplishes our hopes.

Observe, lastly, real godliness is not only a necessary but a durable acquisition. “Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken from her.” Permanency adds bliss to bliss: some things, are not worth preservation: but an invaluable treasure, a thing absolutely needful, will awaken all our concern, and we shall be anxious not only to possess it, but to retain it.

The blessings we derive from godliness are ours forever, laid up where “moth and rust cannot corrupt. nor thieves break through and steal.”

Arise ye, and depart. Micah 2:10.

SOMETIMES the believer is drawn and weaned from the earth. But if not disposed to leave the world, the Lord knows how to drive as well as to draw him. He can put a thorn in our nest, and cause us to flutter out to the edge of it, and there to sit like a bird ready to fly towards heaven when he shall have sent the command. If we become careless and high-minded, and, like David, saying, “In my prosperity I shall never be moved,” then we shall be made to say, also with him, “Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” We are liable to become slothful, and to fall asleep at our post, and it is no little thing sometimes that will wake us; but God can strike very hard, and will do so if necessary; and instead of our complaining of this, we should rather be grateful that he is determined we shall not take up with anything here as our portion, and that he should say by his providence as well as by his word, “arise and depart, for this is not your rest;” look towards heaven, go and take hold of the everlasting covenant.

And the trials and disappointments of earth will never do us good till they have produced this result. If we only dispute, cavil, and fret, our afflictions have as yet done nothing effectually for us. But when they cause us to turn from earth to heaven, from time to eternity, from the creature to God, they are working together for our good, and made to yield unto us “the peaceable fruits of righteousness”-

“From every earthly pleasure,

From every transient joy,

From every mortal treasure,

That soon will fade and die;

No longer these desiring,

Upwards our wishes tend,

To nobler bliss aspiring,

And joys that never end.”