Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello, dear ones.

Cloudy with a slight drizzle is the present weather report here. In a few minutes, Becki and I will be out in it to do our little walk/jog.

The little kittens are here in the studio now. They’re all over the place—learning just this morning that they can climb out of the opening in their card-board box. Hondo, our black Labrador, is absolutely fascinated with them. He has proven to be a passionate baby sitter.

Rising very early this morning, I was able to put together an original. Becki approves, so here it is. And here she comes. So here I go out the door. Blessings.

Love, Dad/Ray.

Jesus spoke these words to frazzled Martha who came to Him with this heated question: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?” Jesus didn’t really answer her question directly, but He did so indirectly. In my own words He essentially said, “No—sorry, Martha, but I don’t really care.” Jesus, however, offers some sound psycho-spiritual counseling—“you are worried and upset about many things”—clearly identifying the normal anxiety disorder that afflicts all earth-bound humans—and which, if not properly managed, will militate against a priority balanced HEART AFTER GOD.

My name is not Martha, but I sense that Jesus is speaking just as directly to frazzled me. He is profoundly identifying the very flaw that hammers me too. And it occurs to me again that anxiety is not a “fruit of the Spirit.” I am also reminded that this flaw was earlier identified in the “Parable of the Sower” back in chapter 8 where Jesus described the soil that was unproductive of good fruit because the seed of the Word “fell among thorns,” representing a person who receives the Biblical Gospel but is “choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures”—in other words, unnecessarily anxious.

The prescription Jesus gives Martha is only implied. “Only one thing is required.” I can’t think of a better way to define that “one thing” than to repeat calling it a HEART AFTER GOD. And I can’t avoid viewing that high priority as a matter of choice. “Mary has CHOSEN what is better.” Better than what? Better than anxiety. “…and it will not be taken from her.” That posture of heart has such an enduring quality so as to be eternal. Therefore, nothing within the affairs of earthly living should be allowed to obstruct this priority focus. That is what Jesus truly cares about. So should I.