The Essential and the Eternal

Each week, for better or worse, we try to find a way to boil down the sermon of the week into a single sentence or thought. It is part of the social media, meme, limited attention span world that we live in. While it is tempting to reject such a practice as simply an exercise in marketing, I think it can be more than that. People don’t memorize 20 minute sermons, but they do remember provocative thoughts. Sometimes, more than a nuanced discussion, we need a simple, strong idea that is convicting.

This week Carolyn preached on Mary and Martha and their time with Jesus in Luke 10. For those unfamiliar with the story, Mary is listening intently at Jesus feet while her sister is dutifully working away in the kitchen. The story is classically used to ask us to consider our priorities in life. Do we allow the spiritual to take precedence? Or do we allow the mundane to be our obsession? It is a powerful story in that it is deeply felt by many of us in our lives. There is so much work to do with the laundry, bills, dishes, homework, etc. that we find days, weeks slip by without much thought to our own spiritual health.

Carolyn phrased her point in a strong way. “Do you get so worried about the essential that you miss the eternal?” I love the word “essential.” So many of the things that distract us are in fact necessary! We must do them. If you have kids, like I do, then there is a ton of essential energy spent in feeding them, cleaning up after them, raising them, clothing them, etc.! No one will excuse a parent for just deciding to stop doing any of that! But it is exhausting and consuming. Essential things must be done, the question is about timing. Does it have to be done right now? Or, is there space to spend some time in prayer first, before tackling the essential? What opportunities am I missing out on that help me to enjoy the Kingdom today? Am I prioritizing that which must happen today or that which will shape me for the hereafter? That may feel like impractical thinking, but spend time with someone who has done only the essential and you will generally find a miserable, nasty old curmudgeon! This spiritual way of looking at things is similar to the right movement in our culture toward self care.

We have to carefully consider, as followers of Jesus, what we are too busy to do or not do. I heard a famous teacher say years ago something along the line of, “If you say I’m too busy for a time of prayer this morning then you are most certainly too busy to NOT pray this morning!” Those who have followed Jesus for some time usually can attest to this reality. Grounding one’s self in prayer, meditation, or reflection can serve as an important launching pad for productivity. That time fuels and enables our busy life, not detracts from it. As Carolyn pointed out, this is a practical outworking of the call to “seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then all these things shall be added unto you.”