Know What’s Needed

“You are worried and upset about many things. But only one thing is needed.”

– Luke 10:41-42

One afternoon a man looked out the sliding glass door of his patio and saw his dog trotting across the patio with something in his mouth. When the man went outside to investigate, he saw that Fido had a dead rabbit in his mouth. After the man said “Drop it!” about ten times, the dog finally let go. And when the man got a closer look, his heart sank. He recognized the beloved pet bunny that belonged to the little girl next door.

Well, the man felt he had to do something. He couldn’t bear for the little girl to find out that his dog had chomped her bunny to death. So, the man brought the rabbit inside, took it to the sink and carefully rinsed off all the dirt and dog slobber. Then he pulled out the hair dryer—or should that be “hare dryer”?—and got him all dried off. Finally, he climbed the fence into his neighbor’s backyard, put the dead rabbit back into its hutch and fluffed up the bunny’s fur one more time before closing the cage. 

Later that evening the man heard the little girl screaming in her backyard. He went next door and asked if everything was all right. The girl’s father told him, “Not really! You remember Cassie’s pet bunny? Well, he died a couple of days ago, and we buried him. But some SICKO came into our backyard while we were gone, dug it up and stuck it back inside the rabbit hutch!”

Have you ever done something kind for someone and afterward realized that it wasn’t at all what that person needed? I have, and I bet you have as well—just like Martha in Luke chapter 10.

In the final five verses of this chapter, Jesus and his disciples came to the home of Mary and Martha. Jesus had been doing full-time ministry for around three years, so he was probably tired—physically, emotionally, perhaps even spiritually. Jesus needed some R&R before moving ahead into Jerusalem. As best we can tell, the group popped in unannounced. So, imagine what you might do if 13 men suddenly showed up at your front door and asked if they could spend the day in your home. The Bible tells us, “Mary sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was busy with all the things that had to be done” (Luke 10:39-40). Would you respond more like Martha, who probably burst into a frenzy of cleaning and meal preparation? Or would you respond more like Mary—ignoring the state of the house, but anxious to hear everything that Jesus had to say?

If your reaction would be more like Martha’s, you probably have a task-oriented personality. You are a worker bee with an eye for detail. You don’t just do things; you are determined to do things right. If your reaction would be more like Mary’s, you probably have a people-oriented personality. You work, but when guests come over, you think it’s more important to sit down and spend time with them, rather than serving them. If you’re people-oriented, there’s a good chance that when your guests get hungry, they’ll have to go into the kitchen and fend for themselves. Either that or you’ll make a quick call to Domino’s and have dinner delivered.

Martha loved Jesus. And because she loved him, she ran around frantically trying to clean the house and make him a four-course meal. Her intentions were good. But her priorities were messed up. Jesus didn’t NEED a four-course meal. As Jesus said to Martha in vs. 41-42, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.”

Jesus wasn’t scolding Martha. He wasn’t criticizing Martha. He was lovingly pointing out to her that she was running herself ragged meeting a need that he didn’t even have. Jesus was basically saying, “Sweet Martha, I don’t need a spotless house. Martha, I don’t need a four-course meal. What I most need is just to recharge my batteries and spend some quality time with you and your sister.” If you want to meet someone’s need, first find out what his or her need IS. Although it’s hard to do, we need to push aside our own ideas of how to show kindness to people and take the time to find out what their real needs are. And that determines what shape our kindness will take.

Also, consider these words from Warren Wiersbe, “What we do WITH Christ is far more important than what we do FOR Christ. Few things are as damaging to the Christian life as trying to work for Christ without taking time to commune with Christ.” Often, what is good is the enemy of what is best. Cleaning the house for Jesus was a good thing. Preparing a nice four-course meal for Jesus was a good thing. But Jesus made it very clear to Martha in that spending quality time with him was the best thing.

So, you and I need to ask ourselves an important question: Am I spending so much time doing good things for Jesus that I am neglecting the most important thing: to spend quality time with Jesus?

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church of Victorville and the author of "Holy Huldah! Lessons You Should Never Forget From Bible Characters You've Never Heard Of." Visit www.YourVictorvilleChurch.com, and join us for our Worship Celebration Sundays at 10 a.m.

Stay Connected to the Vine

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” – John 15:4

Last week I mentioned the grapevines I used to have in my old backyard in Victorville. Although they grew like weeds, the grapes themselves were tiny and sour. Later on, I learned what I was doing wrong. As the branches shot out in every direction, they looked so lush and green that I was afraid to prune them.

I learned that left to themselves, a grapevine will always favor new growth over more grapes. So, gardeners who know what they’re doing will vigorously prune the grape branches each and every year. It goes against our limited, manmade reasoning, but pruning is a grower’s single most important method for ensuring a plentiful harvest of large, sweet grapes.

Well, the same holds true for Jesus Christ and his church. Sometimes pain comes when we’re bearing spiritual fruit: God is allowing that pain to prune us so that we can produce more spiritual fruit. As Jesus told his disciples, “Every branch that does bear fruit [the Father] prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:2b)

Sometimes God needs to prune us of our immaturity, our bad attitudes or our messed-up priorities. At times He even cuts away something good in our lives to make room for something even better. That’s not discipline in response to sin. That’s God pruning us to make room for more spiritual growth, so that He is more glorified in our lives.

Now, if your life bears a lot of fruit—congratulations! But that productivity has pitfalls of its own. Often, we as Christians are very busy serving the Lord. And in the midst of that busyness, we produce a good amount of fruit. But just because you’re fruitful doesn’t mean you’re happy. You may feel burned out, and your relationship with God may feel distant and stale. If this is hitting close to home, let me try to explain what’s going on.

When you first accepted Christ, especially if you had a dramatic conversion, your relationship with him was so fulfilling. You just wanted to serve Jesus however you could. Maybe you weren’t even very good at serving him yet. But that was okay, because you were so enthusiastic and you did your ministry out of sheer love for him.

But as time passes and you get better at serving him—as you get better at growing spiritual fruit—your doing for Jesus begins to outpace your being with Jesus. You find yourself running around just like Martha in the book of Luke. Martha had opened her home to Jesus and, according to Luke 10:40, “was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” Her sister Mary, meanwhile, was sitting at the feet of Jesus. When Martha asked Jesus why he didn’t make Mary get up and help, he responded gently: "Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41b)

That’s what you’re missing out on when you feel spiritually burnt out. While you’re running around doing, Jesus is sitting patiently saying, “You need to be more like Mary. You need to sit at my feet. You need to talk with me and listen to me. You need to love on me and allow me to love on you.”

Do you know there’s only one way for a branch to draw more sap from the vine? The branch has to widen its connection to the vine. The funny thing about that is, this stage of spiritual growth is completely on you. When you’re bearing no fruit, God will discipline you. When you’re bearing some fruit, God will prune you. But if you’ve matured to the point where you’re bearing much spiritual fruit, God is waiting for you to come to him.

If you’re a fruitful Christian, you may be running around doing so much ministry that you’ve left Jesus in the dugout. And that’s not okay. Spending quality time with Christ must not be one of the many items on our daily “to-do” list. It has to be our top priority. We must deepen our connection to the vine if we are going to continue to be fruitful and actually enjoy being fruitful.

You have to choose to spend quality time with Jesus every day. You have to choose to read his word with an open mind and heart and to spend quality time in worship with him. You have to choose to spend quality time talking with him and listening for his still, small voice. When you do that, your connection to the vine will widen—and you will experience the deep, abiding joy of Christ’s love.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information, visit www.fccvv.com  and join us for worship Sunday at 10 a.m.