Choosing the Good Part: Part 2

We don’t need more time, we need intention. Even in busy lives, choosing to regularly sit, listen, and connect with God is what sustains us long-term.

By Maritta Terrell

Read Time: 7 minutes

We stated in Part 1 that Jesus might have reproved Martha once, but he did it because he loved her. He made her so uncomfortable that she wanted to change. And she did!

Why? This was because she rolled the stone out of her own heart and chose to sit at Jesus’s feet. She chose the “one thing is necessary” good part. This article is Part 2, where I will share some practical “how-to’s” on finding and making time to listen!

What is the one good thing? What did Jesus mean? Only one thing to do in my life? The good part is good because it lasts forever.

God’s truth and laws will abide forever. Our worldly lives won’t.

In the Greek, the words “sat at Jesus’ feet” speak of a continuous action of sitting and listening, not just once. It’s just like in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and seek and knock,” in the Greek, it is a continuous action, not just once!

We need to make a habit of it. Really, how can we know what God has promised us if we don’t read His word?

It’s an attitude change God wants, then a character change, because when our attitude changes, then our character changes for good as well. “Think on these things,” we are told (Philippians 4:8).

If you don’t have some vision of what God is doing for you, that non-vision finally beats you down. Mary and Martha sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to his Word, listened to that vision, and still continued to serve. Without that Word, we cannot go on serving because we will be overwhelmed. It will finally worry us, distract us, anger us, exhaust us, and beat us down.

With God’s Word, however, we can prepare meals for the hungry, care tenderly for the sick, whether it is our own family or others, show hospitality to the stranger, and keep on loving and living in the name of Christ, for Christ. Mary, Martha, and others learned to focus on the Lord. When I do spend time with God in prayer and reading His word, I can hear from Him more calmly, and can face the stress of the worldly life easier—it does not change what is happening in my life, but makes it more joyful to go through.

How do you balance time with your children, your husband, and all the tasks that you need to do, especially if you work as well? And then time to sit and listen to the Lord? How did Jesus do it?

Jesus was busy.

That’s being busy; not even time to eat! I’m sure each of us has never been that busy serving God and serving others.

But Jesus made time. For example, “Very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” (Mark 1:35 NIV). And, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” (Luke 5:16 NIV).

Jesus spent time, whatever time he could, with his Father—even if he had to stay up all night! I don’t think (and I’m ashamed of it) I’ve ever spent a whole night in prayer. Several hours, maybe, but not all night.

It’s one day at a time. It’s a big step toward the Kingdom, but we are only going to get there one step at a time. There is a need to “balance” worship and work, devotion, and service by maintaining a connection with God and making that connection real. The more it grows, the more real God and Jesus become to us, the deeper the relationship grows, and the more stable our lives will be in balance. But it is one step at a time.

Even if it is only one verse in the morning, just one verse a day equals 365 verses in a year!

We each need to find our quiet place. My mother found it in the bathroom! I asked her what she did in there, and she said that in the middle of the day, sometimes she just needed a “quiet place,” and with five children, that was the only one! There was a little table for holding her reading materials. She’d go in there, lock the door, and come out about 15-20 minutes later, much refreshed from her quiet time.

Here are some ideas for you that I’ve garnered through the years from many other sisters and by trying things out for myself. Some work for me, and others will work for you. But try one thing at a time. If you can spend 15 minutes to half an hour on Facebook or Twitter, TikTok or other social media, you can find time to read God’s word!

• Pick a time and place to read the Bible, even if it is just one verse, do it. If you have children, have them read to themselves, listen to a reading, or read it to you. After a while, they’ll remind you, “Mom, we need to do our verse today!” Read and/or pray for 15 minutes at lunch, or when you first get to work. Sit in the car and do it, or take the bus! Even if it’s in the bathroom with the door locked!
• Have a notepad or notebook ready, so your and your children’s questions can be written down. Discuss with someone what that verse means and how it applies to you in your daily life.
• Pray, pray, and pray. In bed, in the car, doing dishes, cooking, in line at the grocery store, at the stop light, going to work, curled up on your chair if you are in pain or sickness; you can talk to God anywhere, at any time. He is always ready to listen. Make the time. Find that quiet time, even by closing your eyes in an elevator, bathroom, or anywhere else to think about God and talk to Him.
• Have “bumper stickers” throughout the house. Put Bible verses on plaques, pictures, or just papers stuck to mirrors, dashboards, work monitors, and windows! And rotate them, change them out. Have children write and draw out a verse for you to put on the fridge every Sunday.
• There are many apps nowadays on your phone or iPad that can pop up a Bible verse a day.
• Write down a blessing or more each day in a gratitude journal.
• Have a silent time (lock yourself up in a room if you have to!).
• Write a special verse down and memorize it.
• Share your learning with someone else (i.e., one sister I know tries to share what the exhortation was about the next day at work in at least one conversation).
• Do the readings with the family. There are planners for doing it with young ones.
• Go to as many gatherings, study days, and Bible schools as you can. Just the fellowship alone helps immensely on our walk. If you gain just one point from the classes to help you on your walk, that makes it worth the time and money.
• Think of what you want to do in the Kingdom, and who you want to meet and talk with.
• Memorize Scripture verses to bring them to mind—write them out and stick them to a mirror to learn while you brush your teeth.
• Subscribe to the “Thoughts for the Day” email (thoughtsaday.blogspot.com/)
• Listen to spiritual songs, on CD or your phone (theseventhday.bandcamp.com/; the “Renew” app; jehoshaphatmusic.com/).
• Read the Bible all the way through in one year—make it interesting by:
  • Alternate reading entire Old Testament and New Testament books.
  • Christadelphian Daily Readings—discuss online with friends or on the phone.
  • Read one chapter each of the Old Testament, New Testament, Gospel, and Psalms or Proverbs.
  • Use a “chronological” Bible.
  • Read slowly and deliberately, pondering every word.
  • Write down key points.
  • Ask questions and write them down.
  • Make the events in the Bible alive and real for yourself. Think about people in the Bible as real people—how would you feel in their position or situation?
  • Read a passage and then live it in your head—make it a Technicolor movie in your mind.
  • Talk with others about what you think and read together.

Other Books: I have been asked, “What about commentaries and other books about the Bible? Is reading these books worthwhile?” Yes, sometimes, they help. I like reading stories of Bible characters and times, written by Christadelphians and some other authors. (Mark Morgan’s books: biblestories.online/collections/books; S. J. Knight’s Time to… series; and other fiction: christadelphianlibrary.com/collections/novel). There are many helpful and great commentaries too, and it’s always much better (and fun) to read those with a reading partner, if you can.

But what really is worthwhile for me is reading the same Scripture over and over again, in different versions. Reading out loud certainly helps it sink in better as well!

Philippians 4:8—“Think on these things.” I did mention this, didn’t I? But there is so much out there that catches our attention—I’m dismayed at some of the language on social media by some of the young people that I know. What movies and books, and TV shows are they allowed to watch at home (or with “friends”)? Do we set them an example as well?

Making reading God’s Word a habit. The old saying is: 21 days make a habit, so try committing yourself to 21 straight days of daily devotionals. Even if it is only for 5 minutes a day, or one verse! “He who has ears to hear, let him be listening and let him consider and perceive and comprehend by hearing.” (Matthew 11:15 AMP).

Why listen, read, and consider? So that we may have hope and encouragement to keep on going (Romans 15:4).

Let God’s word guide us. The most important thing is not so much our getting into the Word of God, but the Word of God getting into us.

This is our choice, no one else’s. Mary couldn’t do it for Martha. Martha had to learn it for herself. We each have to do it ourselves. No one else can do it for you.

Mary and Martha sat at Jesus’s feet with other disciples to listen to God’s teaching through him, and learned enough to transform themselves for him. Let us do the same.

Maritta Terrell,
Austin Leander Ecclesia, TX