But One Thing Is Necessary

Luke 10:41-42

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

Psalm 73:26

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Recently I have been reading through Luke and J.I. Packer's book Knowing God, and I have been coming to the same conclusion over and over again. Knowing God is all that matters. There is a difference though between knowing about God and having knowledge of God. Packer spends a lot of time in his book discussing these differences and lists four characteristics of people who know God.

1) Those who know God have great energy for God.

2) Those who know God have great thoughts of God.

3) Those who know God show great boldness for God.

4) Those who know God have great contentment God.

The past few days while reading Scripture and through Packer's book it has become so clear to me that I need to devote myself to seeking the Savior. Packer talks about the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how the had counted the cost. Just Mary in the passage in Luke 10 they had chosen the good portion.

It's easy to look at these people from the Bible, and forget that they were human just like us. They probably had the same struggs and issues that a lot of us still have now, but there was one key difference. They truly counted the cost and chose the better portion. The chapters I have been reading through in Luke have talked a lot about the cost of following Jesus, and to be honest it scares me. I couldn't stop thinking about the American church and if we really understand what it means to follow Jesus. Have we as a church counted the cost? Have we ever sat and meditated on Luke 9:57-62 or Luke 14:25-33?

One thing is necessary, one thing is important, and only one thing can save our souls. Jesus states no one comes to the Father except through him and right after he says "if you had known me you would have known my Father also." (John 14:6-7) I feel like lately I have been learning and relearning over and over again that I need to set my eyes on the Savior. That's what my note Amazing Grace was about. We need to overcome the noise in our lives and seek after our God with all that we are. There is nothing else that matters, and Jesus even promises us that if we seek after the Father knows our needs and will add them to us.

The difficult part about living in America is that in all reality most of us don't have any need or desire to live by faith. I want to challenge all of us to read the passages from Scripture talking about counting the cost and meditate on them, seeking truth and the Savior. I really feel like God has been placing these passages on my heart for a reason. I pray that God will reveal to us our lack of knowledge of Him and that he will place a desire in our hearts to seek after Him with all of our lives. I pray that we will cry out like the psalmist in Psalm 73 recognizing God as our strength and portion forever. I pray that we will be able to find contentment in God alone and that we will truly be able say that all we need is You.

Psalm 73:25

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.