ONE THING IS NEEDFUL

Dearly beloved, I bring you greetings in the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God and our soon coming King. It is a joy to bring the word of life to you once again, this beautiful Sunday morning.

 

Let us look at this very familiar scripture together;

“And Jesus answered and said unto her, 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 (KJV)

 

Our text is the story of two sisters, Mary and Martha. Martha decided to host Jesus and made all the preparations necessary to host Him. When Jesus arrived, she welcomed Him heartily into her home, and made Him feel comfortable. But her sister Mary, went to sit at His feet to listen to Him. She had heard so much about this Jesus, that she wasn’t going to allow this very exceptional moment pass her by. She wanted to glean as much as she could from this man named Jesus. On the other hand, Martha was more concerned about the meals, about serving Jesus and His entourage, and while there is nothing wrong with that, after all she was being hospitable and taking care of Jesus, but Jesus made her understand that the most important thing was to sit and receive His words.

 

Child of God, I want to ask you this morning, are you sitting at his feet and listening to Him? Are you putting your ears close to His mouth to receive from Him? Our text makes it very clear that one thing is needful; another version says one thing is “most important”. Where you sit determines what you hear, and what you hear, determines what you think, what you think determines the actions you take, and actions will ultimately determine the results you get. I know you have to go to work, you have to pursue that contract, you have to do different things, but Jesus is saying the most important thing is to listen to the words from my lips. Ladies and gentlemen, distractions come when you stop hearing the Words of Jesus. And the ploy of the enemy in these last days, to cause you to lose focus, and ensure that you are not positioned to receive from God.

 

Beloved these are not the days to be careless about how you live your life; you must have a place where you sit down to glean from, if not, the enemy will pluck out your eyes. There is so much happening in the society today, and all of these are the enemy’s tricks to keep you from being still enough to listen. If he can keep you away from sitting down to receive from God, then he has got you, because it is only from God that you receive hope, faith, strength, and courage for everyday living.

 

God has all the answers you would ever need to whatever life throws at you, therefore take a quality decision to sit at His feet. Come early to services, every aspect of the service is important, you never know when He will meet you. Don’t put God on your schedule, or timetable, Martha probably did. According to her, food should have been served first before every other thing, but Jesus thought otherwise. He is the sovereign God!

 

As you make these adjustments, I pray that the light of God will flood your life. You will know what to do at every point in time, you will not be confused, and you will never be stranded. I bless you today in Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

Maranatha!

 

In His Royal Service

Dr Mike Okonkwo

The Presiding Bishop