The Joyful Heart by Jim Hughes: Do you know what the secret of life is?

We all remember the famous line from the 1991 film City Slickers:

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? [points index finger skyward] This.

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean shit.

Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?"

Curly: [smiles and points his finger at Mitch] That's what you have to find out.

Thankfully we don’t have to find out by watching City Slickers, we can find it in the Bible.

Luke 10:42 One thing is needed

(GW)

There’s only one thing you need.[a] Mary has made the right choice, and that one thing will not be taken away from her.”

^aFootnotes: Luke 10:42 Some manuscripts and translations read, “But of the few things [worth worrying about], there is only one thing you need.”

(NLT)

There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.

Mary had chosen intimate fellowship with the Lord—that’s the one thing needed in life! All else pails in description compared to being intimately united to Christ in everything we do. Do you have a job to do? Do it whole heartedly as unto the Lord:

Colossians 3:23

(KJV)

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

(MSG)

22-25 Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work.

Martha wasn’t doing shoddy work physically but in the soulish realm – in her mind. She was full of anxiety and worry! Two of the worst conditions of heart that one could find themselves in. Jesus was always nailing the disciples over worry:

Matthew 6:25-29

(MSG)

25-26 If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

27-29 Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

30-33 If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

Luke 10:41

—Adam Clarke's Commentary

Thou art careful and troubled—Thou art distracted, μεριμνας, thy mind is divided, (see on Matthew 13:22 note below), in consequence of which, τυρβαζῃ, thou art disturbed, thy spirit is thrown into a tumult.

About many things—Getting a variety of things ready for this entertainment, much more than are necessary on such an occasion.

Matthew 13:22 The Parable of the Sower

He also that received seed among the thorns—In land ploughed, but not properly cleared and seeded. Is he—represents that person who heareth the word, but the cares, rather the anxiety, η μεριμνα, the whole system of anxious carking [distressful] cares.

The parable of the sower is about the state of mind of believers:

Mark 4:14-20

(AMP)

14 The sower sows the Word.

15 The ones along the path are those who have the Word sown [in their hearts], but when they hear, Satan comes at once and [by force] takes away the message which is sown in them.

16 And in the same way the ones sown upon stony ground are those who, when they hear the Word, at once receive and accept and welcome it with joy;

17 And they have no real root in themselves, and so they endure for a little while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away.

18 And the ones sown among the thorns are others who hear the Word;

19 Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.

20 And those sown on the good (well-adapted) soil are the ones who hear the Word and receive and accept and welcome it and bear fruit--some thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much, and some [even] a hundred times as much.

In verse 24 Jesus gives a very important clue to what was going on in Bethany at Mary & Martha’s house:

24 And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. [This is the kind of carefulness God wants] The measure [of thought and study] you give [to [the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you – and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.

Mary was giving concentrated thought and study to what Jesus was saying while Martha was just sticking her head in every once in a while. Let’s not be found guilty of just sticking our heads in and out of fellowship with the Lord only when it’s convenient to do so; it is always the most needful thing to be listening intently to the Lord in our hearts whether we are at home having devotions or at work making hamburgers!

References:

City Slickers Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

King James Version (KJV)—Public Domain/ 1604, King James I of

England