Only one thing is needed

Salaam!

Has someone ever told you ‘ek kaam kar’ and started giving you a laundry list of things to do? Apparently, this is an Indianism I wasn’t aware of until my foreign friends told me, “You always say ‘do one thing’ and then give us like five things to do!”

Well, I think God has a desi dil, too ;) The expression ‘one thing’ is used five different times in the Bible, each to point out a different priority in our Christian life.

In the coming days, we will look at each of those five ‘one things’ together, starting with my favourite one today from Luke 10:

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:41-42

In this story, Martha complains to Jesus about her sister, Mary, sitting at the Lord’s feet while leaving Martha to handle all the work of hosting guests. Martha is doing many things, while Mary is doing only one thing—the most needed and most necessary thing.

In our own lives, we often try to do a million things at once, many of which are undoubtedly important, just as Martha's tasks were. However, when spending time with Jesus, we should focus on doing one thing at a time.

Both Martha and Mary were close to Jesus, but the Bible says Martha was distracted by her many tasks (Luke 10:40).

I encourage you to spend time at Jesus’ feet without any distractions today!

Ek kaam kar - Find a quiet place and silence your phone. Set a 10-minute timer and pray this one-line prayer in your heart, "Lord Jesus, I am here." Now you may find your thoughts wandering, and that’s normal, but just repeat this line, ‘Jesus, I am here,’ and centre your heart on Him again.

Hey! You are a Chamatkar.

Cameron Mendes

P.S. The texts of this reading come from the daily email Chamatkar Every Day. If you would like to receive daily encouragement, I invite you to subscribe to Chamatkar Every Day.