Jesus: “One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part.” Luke 10:38-42

I have a lot of thoughts running through my mind today. It’s possible that they are random; but more likely they are connected in some way. So I’ll unhinge the lid on my head, lean over to the side a little, and kind of empty it all onto my desktop.

TRUTH – First, and this might be the common ingredient, I’ve been thinking about the idea of truth. Jesus, who never met a question he wasn’t willing to answer with either another question or some kind of a head-scratching redirect, said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” – John 14:6

The truth – according to Jesus – is to be found in following his way, and entering into his kind of life. People are more comfortable inscribing truth onto a spreadsheet, having the columns line up nicely and the equations balance; but Jesus tells us it’s all about a restored relationship with the Creator, and living in response to such transformational new live.

“RIGHT” – Then we get so caught up in delineating and codifying what is “right,” too easily forgetting that the when the Bible uses the idea of “righteousness,” the root of the Hebrew word is the same as the root idea for “justice.” And Jesus comes along to point out all that really matters is loving God with everything we are, and loving our neighbor in the same way; “The entire law and all the demands of the prophets,” Jesus said, “are based on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40

But we want truth always to be “my” truth; and we want to label other people’s honest struggles as “wrong,” because we need to be “right.”

LAW – And this “spreadsheet” mentality causes us to argue over fine points of law, when it’s God’s judgement that matters in the end. And if, “the U.S. Supreme Court has no authority to overrule God,” then – believe me – God is not overruled! So it really doesn’t matter a hill of beans, does it, what that piece of paper says anyway?

And all the while, the heart of the gospel of love moves farther and farther from the reach of those who so desperately need to connect with the Jesus kind of truth.

And the Lord said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.” – Luke 10:38-42

So distracted. From the truth. I believe the devil is having a holiday right now, and all the powers of evil can imagine no better path for the next few years than to keep the focus away from “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and honed in on the spreadsheet mentality of rules, and rights, and who is wrong…

Seriously, people; let’s join Mary and chose the better part. That’s the message our world is drifting away from, the message ALL PEOPLE need to hear.

– DEREK