How To Set Your Priorities Right This Year Of Preparation

...Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it…

 

In life, many are more preoccupied with learning more about their work, how to be better in running their family, business, managing their finances, etc. While this is good and commendable, all of those things will never make you a complete person; they’ll never bring you to the place that the Spirit of God wants you to be. The most important thing in your life—your greatest pursuit—should be getting a hold of God’s Word, knowing it, and living in it; having the Word build your life and mould your character. Make this your number one goal as you set your priorities for the year. 

 

Consider what happened in Luke 10: Jesus visited Mary and Martha in their home. Martha, Mary’s elder sister, didn’t quite give attention to what was most important. Soon as Jesus arrived, she hurried into the kitchen to fix Him a meal, thinking to give the Master a good treat. However, Mary, with great excitement, sat at the feet of the Master to get nothing but the Word. She must have thought, “The Master in my house? This is an opportunity of a lifetime to get my life improved!” Thus, she chose to sit before the Master, taking a hold of every Word that He taught. She had her priorities right.

 

Read again Luke 10:41-42, the Master’s commendation of her faith and passion for the Word, despite Martha’s complaints that she had left her to do the chores all by herself. It reminds of another of Jesus’ encounter with a woman at the well of Samaria. He had asked the woman for a drink of water, and she declined. Then Jesus said to her, “…If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (John 4:10). Like this woman, if Martha had known who Jesus was, she would have been asking for “food” from Him, not trying to get Him some.

 

Take a cue from Mary. Set your priorities right by giving adequate attention to the Word. The Word is the real foundation for everything.