Choosing The Good Part

Brenden Ashby
04/13/25 - Sun AM

Choosing the Good Part

Brenden Ashby

“I’m busy,” seems to be the motto of our age. Anecdotally and in the research, Americans are busier than ever despite working fewer hours. We know this is not good for us, but we cannot seem to stop. Jesus has a few helpful words for our busyness problem in Luke 10:38-42. Let’s see what His solution is.

This text opens with Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to His word while her sister Martha is franticly running around trying to get everything ready. In the midst of this we read that Martha was “distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40 NKJV). That word “distracted” carries the idea to be carried off or over busied. If we were to pause and consider all of our busyness for a few moments we would find that we, like Martha, are being carried off by our many tasks and are neglecting precious time with Jesus.

Our Lord doesn’t leave Martha in her distracted serving. He calls to her, “Martha, Martha.” He gets her to stop for a moment and see the reality of the situation. In our frantic busyness Jesus is calling each of us by name to pause and see what all this busyness is doing to us. Jesus wants us to be still for a few moments, so we do not neglect Him.

Jesus continues to say to Martha, “one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). It is not that serving is bad, because it’s not. It is that Martha’s priorities in that moment were askew. She needed to stop, recognize the situation, and come to Jesus to hear his word.

The solution to our busyness is to intentionally decide to step back from the hustle and bustle and to be still. To be still at the feet of Jesus and hear His word. That is the good part that shall not be taken from us.