Luke 10:40 (NASB) “But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”
Martha missed one important priority. She was distracted. The root Greek word that is translated as distracted is “perispao.” The word means “to be so overburdened by various distractions as to be worried and anxious.” The Greek verb is in the imperfect tense. That means she was in a state of constant distraction. She never stopped to listen to Jesus.
Martha speaks directly to Jesus and challenges Him. Her opening words are, “Lord, do You not care?
Luke 10:41-42 (NASB) “But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
There is only one thing about which Martha should have been concerned. She should have been eager to quietly sit and hear the Word of God. Martha had missed the one good thing. “Only one thing is necessary!” Only one thing needs to be done! The Greek word for “one” means one as opposed to two or more. The Greek word for “necessary” is “chreia” and it literally means “need.” That is there is only “one need.” Spending time with Jesus and his Word.
Mary chose the good portion, she was choosing to keep her priorities straight, and that resulted in Jesus, receiving her full and undivided attention.
Choosing the good portion requires consistently aligning our hearts to the greatest commandment to love God first. It means to seek His kingdom first, all the while laying down our burdens
Psalm 68:19 (NLT) “Praise the Lord, who carries our burdens day after day; he is the God who saves us.”
It takes an act of our own will to give up our burdens. We can sit in the presence of God and hear him speaking to us, but we need to take action to allow God to give us total peace by laying down that which worries us.