The Good Portion (Luke 10:41–42)

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
– Luke 10:41–42

What a statement! If you know the story here, Martha is serving and doing all kinds of things for Jesus while Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus. And Martha says, “Lord, don’t You care that my sisters left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me”. And Jesus looks at her and says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things”. Just let that word soak in for a minute. Are you anxious or troubled about anything in your life right now? Just let it come to the surface right now. What are you anxious about in your life? What are you troubled over in your life? What are you busy with even in your life?

Luke 10:41–42 reveals that Jesus is our Good Portion.

“Martha. Martha, you’re anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary”. One thing, “Mary has chosen the good portion”. Oh, what a phrase! Mary has chosen the good portion amidst all the anxiety-inducing, trouble-inducing things in our lives, the busyness of all that we need to get done. One thing is necessary. One thing is the good portion, and that’s to sit at the feet of Jesus. We all need this.

So let me just ask you, are you daily setting aside time simply to sit at the feet of Jesus? Not to do anything else, just you and Him, to listen to Him, to speak to Him, to praise Him, to pray for his help, to grow in relationship with Him? One thing, this one thing is necessary.

This is the good portion that God has for you. Just let this soak in. God has a good portion for you. He has goodness waiting for you alone with Him every day.

Luke 10:41–42 calls us to prioritize Jesus over and above everything else.

So God, please help us to prioritize this one thing. Please help us choose this good portion. We confess that we are busy with many things. We are people who are so busy with so many things and anxious about so many things, and troubled about many things.

God, help us to choose the one thing that’s necessary; to sit at Your feet. Oh God, thank you for the privilege of sitting at Your feet, of communing with You, of hearing Your Word, hearing You speak to us, of being able to have a conversation with You, to worship You, to spend time with You. God, oh, please help us to prioritize this one thing in our lives.

Amidst everything else, may this be the one thing that’s most important in each of our lives. Oh God, help us to choose the good portion. And, oh God, as we sit at Your feet, Lord Jesus, as we sit at Your feet, help us to participate with You in our prayers and what You’re doing around the world.

Prayer for the Israeli Jewish People

And we think about Israeli Jewish people in the West Bank and Gaza, and Palestinians in that region. God, we pray, we sit at Your feet and plead for Your grace, and Your mercy, and Your help for them, for the peace of Jesus to spread in those places, for the gospel of Jesus to spread in those places. Please, oh God, may it be so. Oh God, help us to fully steward all the opportunities that are available for us, not just to be at Your feet, to listen to You, but to cry out to You. And for our prayers to be a means by which Your purposes are accomplished in the world. Oh God, help us to prioritize time at Your feet above every other thing we could do with our time. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.