If, as sinners, we have been at the feet of the Saviour discovering that, in spite of all our sins, He loves us and has died for us, then if we are to make spiritual progress_if we are to be "meet for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work"_the one thing needful, as believers, is to take our place at His feet and hear His word.

This plain but important truth is brought before us in the scene described in the five closing verses of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Journeying on His way to Jerusalem, the Lord came to a certain village, and we are told that a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house. She gladly opened her home to the Lord, and at once set herself to minister to His bodily needs. This indeed was right and beautiful in its place; and yet the story clearly shows that there was much of self in Martha’s service. She did not like to have all the burden of this service, and felt grieved that she was left to serve alone. There was one thing lacking in her service.

The one thing needful_the one thing that Martha missed_was to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His word. She loved the Lord, and with all her energy she zealously set herself to serve the Lord; but her zeal was not according to knowledge. She set herself to work without having first been in the company of the Lord, and in communion with the Lord, and therefore without being instructed in the mind of the Lord through the word of the Lord. As a result she was distracted with much serving and "careful and troubled about many things," complaining about her sister, and even entertaining the thought that the Lord was indifferent to her labors.

Alas! do we not, at times, act like Martha? We may take up service according to our own thoughts, or under the direction of others. From morning to night we may busy ourselves in a continual round of activity, and yet neglect the one thing needful_to be alone with the Lord, and in communion with Him hear His word and learn His mind. Little wonder that we get distracted and "troubled about many things," and complain to others. How true it is that it is easier to spend whole days in a round of busy service, than half an hour alone with Jesus.

In Mary we see a believer who chose the "good part." Sometimes it is said that Mary chose the better part, as if Martha’s part was good, but Mary’s was better. It is not thus that the Lord speaks. He definitely says that Mary’s part was "that good part," for she chose the "one thing . . . needful"_to sit at His feet and hear His word.

Clearly, then, Mary had a keener perception of the desires of the heart of Christ than her sister. One has said, "Martha’s eye saw His weariness, and would give to Him; Mary’s faith apprehended His fulness and would draw from Him."

Martha thought of the Lord only as One who was requiring something from us; Mary discerned that, beyond all the service of which He is so worthy, the desire of His heart, and the great purpose of His coming into this world, was to communicate something to us. "Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," and at the end of His path He could say, "I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me" (John 17:8). By the Word of God salvation is brought to us (Acts 13:26); by the Word of God we are born again (1 Pet. 1:23); by the Word of God we are cleansed from defilement (John 15:3); by the Word of God we are sanctified (John 17:17); and by the Word of God we are instructed in all the truth of God "that the man of God may be . . . , throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:15-17).

May we not say that Martha set herself to do good works without having been thoroughly furnished by the word of God? In Mary we learn that communion with Christ, and instruction in the word of Christ must precede all service that is acceptable to Christ. He delights that, in His own time and way, we should minister to Him; but, above all, He delights to have us in His company that He may minister to us.
Mary chose this good part and the Lord will not allow any complaints by her sister to belittle her choice_it shall not be taken from her. So, again, in the last days of the Church’s history on earth, the Lord commends the Philadelphians, not for any great activity that would give them a prominent place before the world, but that they had "kept His Word." Like Mary of old they set greater store on His Word than their works. It is not, indeed, that Mary was without works, for having chosen "that good part," in due time the Lord commends her for doing "a good work" (Matt. 26:10). So with the Philadelphian saints, the Lord who commended them for keeping His Word is the One who can say, "I know thy works."

Of old, Moses could say of the Lord, "Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand; and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words" (Deut. 33:3). This presents a lovely picture of the true position of God’s people_held in the hand of the Lord; sitting at the feet of the Lord; and listening to the words of the Lord. They are secure in His hand; at rest at His feet; and learning His mind. May we, then, choose this good part, and in due course do the good work.