Our church has purchased a new IMac computer.  It is fast, outperforming any of our other office computers by a long shot.  Its purpose: to edit pictures and video, manage the website, and live stream our worship services in order to better serve our church.  Already I’ve edited a video on it that would have crashed my PC at least half a dozen times.  I’m the biggest fan of our new IMac; I love the idea of our church advancing its message by being sufficient in its use of media and the web, but this new computer has got me thinking.

Our church can be the coolest organization on the planet, but still miss out on God’s best.  We can have the sweetest website, the most up-to-date Facebook, and media that is funny and relevant, but still miss what God wants most from us… kind of like Martha.

In the book of Luke there is a story about two women.  One was named Martha, and she was all about pleasing Jesus.  When Jesus came to visit her and Mary, the other woman, Martha went nuts!  She worked so hard, cleaning up, preparing food, making sure everyone was comfortable… I think she really wanted to do her best for Jesus.  But Mary didn’t help out at all; instead, she spent time with Jesus.  Mary knew she only had a limited amount of time to be face-to-face with the Savior, so she didn’t spend it working on making everything great around her, she spent her time worshipping.  When Martha got upset about this, Jesus said to her, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed .” (Luke 10:41–42 , italics mine) So what was the one thing He was talking about?  Ben Patterson, in his book ‘Deepening Your Conversation With God’, says it better than I can:  “The one absolutely essential, nonnegotiable thing is to be with Jesus as Mary was. The church grows when its people attend to the one thing needed, not when it is preoccupied with the many things not needed.”

May we be preoccupied with Jesus, and not with the ‘stuff’.  Our new IMac is pretty sweet, but I pray that we will use it to support the one thing that is most important: being with Jesus.

-Mike