Urgent or Important, God First

If you do a concordance search for ‘hurry’, it appears numerous times in the Bible. So, perhaps there is validity in our hurrying. But the thing is, the examples that I saw were admonishments not to hurry or they were hurry away from disaster or hurry toward blessing. There was little hurry in everyday life of the Bible. Somehow, we have made hurry the way to do things all the time. And I think that the hurry is likely toward disaster, not toward blessing. I think it is more like Martha than Mary.

Worried about many things

Our hurry has us focused on many things rather than the one thing. Jesus admonishes us today just as he did in Luke 10:41-42, “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” I can relate very well to Martha. Goodness, she probably has a dozen or more people in her house and cultural expectations said that she had to feed them and since she opened her home to them, I’d guess she would house them for an indefinite period of time too. There would indeed be many things to do. But Jesus says that only one thing is needed. Him. He is that one needed thing. With Him, all else falls into place. The important and the urgent stop struggling against each other.

Urgent vs important things

Martha and Mary had many urgent things to do, according to cultural norms. But Jesus didn’t care about the cultural norms. He cared about the people. So, he would have been fine with the leftovers from yesterday. He didn’t require much, just some bread and something to drink. It was Martha who took on the expectations, it was not Jesus who put them upon her. How many things have we taken on ourselves that Jesus never intended? Do we think when we invite someone for a meal that it has to be worthy of a magazine cover? When we invite Jesus inside, do we run around the house picking up the dirty socks and throwing the dishes into the sink? When he comes inside, he wants to be with us. He wants to sit down and spend time with us. He wants to lend us an ear, give us his love, show us we are accepted. What is important in our day is sometimes the thing that gets the least time.

Mary has chosen

Mary made the choice that important got her attention first, then perhaps the urgent would. Martha made the choice to take care of the urgent and attend the important when she got to it. We all know what our priority should be, but have we made that choice? It is a daily choice. And this is the new habit we have to establish, the one that will break the hurry. Breaking the hurry is as simple as choosing to prioritize God first. Maybe there are three responses to this thought: 1) yes, I do, 2) one more thing on the list!, 3) I can’t get through the day without Him.

Hurry toward blessing

Joseph urges hurry to bring the family to settle with him in the land where he can care for them all (Genesis 45), Israelites were urged to hurry out of slavery in Egypt (Exodus 12), David was urged to hurry along to his brothers with their meal at the battle grounds where Goliath was. Provision, freedom from slavery and oppression, these are some of the blessings that came from hurrying in the Bible. They are the promises of God fulfilled. But this was only possible because of the relationship that each of these people had with God before the urge to hurry. That was the first blessing, walking with God, knowing Him. As in Psalm 1:2-3, ‘but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, yields its fruit in season whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.’ In knowing God, his Word, his intention, his truth, we can hurry to the blessings while not being anxious and worried like Martha. We will be a tree planted by streams who fruits and prospers in our labor. God first, labor second. Important first, urgent second.