Today's Devotional

August 4, 2005

Subject:  Things To Do

Luke 10:41 - 42 "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."

I used to hear some preachers say in their message, "if you want to check someone's priorities in life, look at their checkbook."  Of course I understood the point, but now with electronic bill-paying and the like, there are many reasons that won't work.  I think there is still one way you can check your own priorities though and that's by looking at what you actually do every day.  What's on your "things to do" list?

Every day I get a list created that depicts the things that I will try to accomplish in that day.  I don't usually get everything done, but when I go back and review some of those lists, I can clearly see what was important to me on that day. 

The story of Mary and Martha shows the difference in their "things to do" list each day.  Martha's list was very long and included a lot of things on it and she worked hard to get them done.  However, Mary's list simply had "one thing" on it and it controlled the priority of her day.  Earlier in the passage, Mary is depicted as one who "sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word."  That was the item on her "things to do" list.   

What determines the priority of your day?  What's on your "things to do list" today?  I'm not talking about the literal list.  I'm asking you about life.  Will you spend time in good works today?  Will you spend any time simply listening to God?  Are the priorities of your list cutting out the priorities of your life?  See everyone might say they want to be more Godly, but few people have a plan to get there.  If you're going to get there, create a "things to do list" that reflects your heart's desire to be like Christ.  It could be a really long list or it might be like Mary's, because after all only "one thing is needful."  Choose the good part. 

Carlen