What Does a Faith Crisis Feel Like?

By: Jon Bloom

At some point, many Christians experience unsettling doubts regarding their professed beliefs. Some Christians experience this more than others.

The areas of our individual doubt struggles are as diverse and complex as our Christian faith claims. Some battle doubts about the genuineness of their conversion (“Have I truly been born again?”). Some battle doubts about the character of God (“Is God truly good?”). Some battle doubts about the validity of their theological framework (“Does Calvinism truly represent the biblical revelation of God’s nature, purposes, and actions?”). Some battle doubts about the authenticity of their spiritual experiences (“Was my remarkably fast health recovery after receiving prayer truly a divine healing?”). Some battle doubts about the veracity of the Christian faith itself (“Does God truly exist?” or “Does another religion or belief system more truly reveal the nature of ultimate reality?”). Some battle a hodgepodge of these and still other kinds of doubts.

For most Christians, the intensity of their doubts falls into the mildly to moderately troubling range. In relation to faith-health, these battles with doubt are like battling a bad cold or flu — they require care, but they are not faith-threatening. However, a minority of Christians (though I’d say a substantial minority) endure one or more seasons of doubt so intense we’ve given them a special term: faith crises.

When Doubts Become Crises

To call these experiences crises is not hyperbole. When a confluence of factors moves us to question whether our fundamental understanding of reality is indeed true, it can feel like our world is on the verge of collapse. In relation to faith-health, this kind of doubt is more like a heart attack or stroke.

“I know the oppressive spiritual darkness, the agonizing fear, the confusion, disorientation, the sense of isolation.”
I say this from experience. Like everyone, I occasionally battle some doubts that are like a cold or the flu. But more than once in my forty-year sojourn as a Christian, I’ve also endured doubts more like a heart attack. I know the oppressive spiritual darkness, the agonizing fear, the disorienting confusion, the sense of isolation.

Since I am part of the substantial minority of Christians who have (or will) experience this, I thought it might be helpful if I briefly describe the emotional and psychological state a person often is in when such a crisis hits. My goal is to increase awareness in Christians — especially those who have not experienced a faith crisis themselves — of the destabilized state someone enduring a faith crisis can be in. Such awareness can help us extend the most needed kinds of initial “crisis care” when ministering grace to beloved brothers and sisters who are reeling.

Stage 1: The Build-Up

A person’s faith crisis often appears to happen suddenly. Someone you know (perhaps you) seems to have a strong, sturdy faith. Then, all of sudden, it looks like their faith is falling apart. And you wonder, “What happened?”

Although that’s the way it often appears, rarely do such crises come out of nowhere. Almost always, destabilizing elements have been building up under the surface, even if the person wasn’t fully aware.

All of us experience and observe realities that don’t seem to make sense within our Christian worldview or our theological framework. Often, we’re able to mentally file these under Scriptural categories such as:

Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Or Isaiah 55:8–9: My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

But some people, over time, gradually accumulate sufficient, seemingly incoherent experiences and observations that their faith becomes destabilized, often more than they realize. Each experience or observation on its own likely causes them only mild to moderate confusion or unsettledness — it looks and feels much like the doubt common to all believers, which may be why they don’t more urgently address them prior to the crisis moment. But if enough faith-destabilizing elements build up, such people, even if they don’t consciously realize it, become vulnerable to a faith crisis, only needing the right (or wrong) catalyst to set it off.

Stage 2: The Catalyst

Sometimes a catalyst moment is a significant life event, like a betrayal or a tragedy. But often, it is an apparently and surprisingly insignificant event, like an offhanded comment someone makes in an ordinary conversation.

Whatever the catalyst event, when it occurs it ignites a kind of chain reaction. It’s as if the various destabilizing elements that have built up now psychologically fuse together into a sudden awareness that the person’s belief system — Christianity as ultimate reality — might not be true, but might instead be, like other belief systems, a human construct. This awareness produces a kind of internal explosion: a faith crisis (which nowadays some might refer to as a deconstruction).

What’s important to keep in mind when ministering to someone experiencing this, especially in the early stages of the crisis, is that the catalyst event, whether extraordinary or mundane, is frequently not what’s only, or even mainly, fueling the person’s crisis. Often, well-meaning friends coming alongside a person in faith crisis can focus too much on the catalyst and give too little attention to the doubts and experiences that built up over months or years.

The catalyst is more like a lit match dropped on an accumulated pile of tinder, or like the last Jenga block pulled that suddenly brings the weakened structure down. And when it happens, the person usually finds himself suddenly caught in a raging spiritual tempest.

Stage 3: The Storm

For those who haven’t experienced a faith crisis, it’s hard to capture in words what it feels like. As I have tried, I have found a storm to be a helpful metaphor.

The human brain is a remarkably, even incomprehensibly, powerful and complex creation. The speed at which it can process, especially in a state of alarm, is incredible. And people in the initial stages of a faith crisis are typically in a state of alarm. The brain is processing in overdrive — and not only processing the Christian claims in question, but the possible implications of those bedrock claims proving untrue. And they’re trying to resolve those overwhelming questions in a storm of anguishing emotions.

If those who have taken their faith seriously suddenly and unexpectedly experience the kind of internal faith explosion I described above, resulting in intense doubts regarding their fundamental beliefs, these are the sorts of implications crashing in on them:

That God — the Person they have most profoundly trusted, most deeply loved, most passionately worshiped, the one they believed they have experienced and been led by, the one they’ve oriented their whole life around and taught others about — might not be real.

And if God’s not real, much of what they’ve found meaningful in life would either be a delusion or built on a delusion.
And if they’ve been deluded, what is real? What does everything mean? They wonder, “Who am I?”

And if they were to lose their faith, they’d grieve and confuse believing family members and friends they love deeply, and lose a priceless dimension of relational connection they have shared with those loved ones.

And they would lose the church community that has been integral to their lives.

And if they’re in vocational ministry — because pastors, missionaries, and vocational Christian workers of all kinds are not immune from faith crises — then they’d lose both the missional purpose that oriented their lives as well as gainful employment. And what would they do, or even want to do, next?

And most frightening of all, if they were to lose their faith only to discover too late that their doubts had deceived them, they would be condemned to hell, and may cause others to stumble and end up there too.

Hopefully you can see why this experience is so often psychologically disorienting and emotionally distressing.

What I want to stress here is that when we are ministering to those who have recently entered a faith crisis, it’s important to get as clear a sense as possible of their state of mind before attempting to seriously engage the faith questions they’re wrestling with. Because for some, their inner turmoil, their internal storm, is overwhelming. I like to say that when a faith crisis hits, it’s like trying to think and discern clearly in a hurricane. It’s wise to assume strugglers’ anxiety and fear levels are running high, that they’re depressed, and they’re in need of rest, since this experience often robs them of sleep at night.

At this moment, what a person in faith crisis often needs most is not immediate answers, but shelter.

Providing Shelter in the Storm

Shelter is what anyone caught in raging storm seeks. A shelter doesn’t end a storm, but it does provide a storm-tossed struggler a measure of needed respite, safety, and peace.

Jude instructs us to “have mercy on those who doubt” (Jude 22). Providing merciful shelter for a Christian in the tumultuous throes of a faith crisis is one way to show mercy, and one of the most important initial ways we can extend “crisis care” to him.

But what does it mean to provide spiritual shelter for someone in this kind of spiritual storm? Like most parts in the Christian life, there’s no simple formula. People’s faith-crisis experiences are unique. Their doubts are unique, their contexts are unique, their histories are unique, their temperaments are unique, their spiritual-maturity levels are unique, and so on. Therefore, the kind of merciful shelter each person needs will be unique. Faith crises are complex, and God’s mercy is many-faceted.

But we know what people experience when they find a storm shelter: their fear reduces, they breathe easier, and they’re able to rest. In a spiritual shelter, a person can be open and honest about their doubts and fears, release pent-up emotions, and God willing, gain some much-needed, Spirit-granted perspective and guidance.

Providing this kind of merciful shelter for someone requires discernment. And discernment requires a listening ear. Which means, while God hasn’t given us a one-size-fits-all formula for how to do this, he has given us a governing principle we can apply: “Let every person [who wishes to have mercy on those who doubt] be quick to hear [and] slow to speak” (James 1:19). This is crucial because we won’t know what (or if) to speak unless we have first carefully and prayerfully heard.

So, as we seek to care for those in a faith crisis, we’re wise to remember that (1) the crisis is often the sudden explosion of doubts that have accumulated over time, (2) the crisis is often ignited by a catalyst event that may itself not be fueling their doubts, and (3) their most pressing initial need may not be our immediately addressing their doubts, but experiencing through us the sheltering mercy of Jesus, who extends this invitation to all strugglers: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Miracle Monday

By Miki Maynard

On The Earth as It Is in Heaven

Lately the phrase “on the earth as it is in heaven,” has been on my heart. I realized that this is something that the Lord is impressing upon me to pray. I know it is something in a matter of prayer for believers quite often, but I feel a specific highlight to this currently.

Our Lord prayed this when the disciples asked him how they were supposed to pray. He opens with exalting the Father and recognizing that He is holy. In what we call The Lord’s Prayer, Yahshua gives us this very intentional guidance on what is possible in our lives.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6:10 AMP

The Kingdom and His Will in My Heart Practically

At first when I went to investigate the verses that address this quite amazing idea of the kingdom being released upon the earth, I was initially only thinking of signs, miracles, and wonders pertain to “on earth as it is in heaven.” When I read the prayer the Lord gives us, I find the context contains very practical details of how I should behave in my life and how I should maintain the places in my heart and attitudes in how I treat people.

I am not perfect, and I know that people have needed to forgive me for something I had done or said. I didn’t know the situation and what was going on in their life. Jesus even sees this in those who crucified him. He asks the Father to forgive them because, “they do not know what they are doing.” When I realized what I did was wrong, I asked for forgiveness. We need to remember to be willing to say we did something wrong and show respect to others.

I’ve also noticed that sometimes people will react to me negatively, not because of what I have done, but because of their own personal struggle at the time. They might be dealing with some difficult things in their life so getting through some events or responsibilities in their day is more than they can handle. It’s my job to extend some grace and not take it personally.

The shaking that has been taking place currently in the world has caused a lot of pressure in my life recently. I have seen some yuk come out of me that I thought I dealt with years ago. I had to repent and ask for the Lord to write His word on my heart and give me a right spirit in these areas.

I realize forgiveness is something that I must extend to others as well. If someone does something to me that causes me pain, I am tempted to hold a grudge. Jesus specifically guides us in this prayer that we are “not to be led into temptation.” I know temptation can include many things, but I understand that it can include becoming offended to the point of refusing to honestly work through the process of choosing to extend forgiveness so that love can prosper, and relationships can heal.

In verse 12 of Matthew 6 of what we call The Lord’s Prayer, Yahshua says, “And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.”

The Amplified Bible explains that this means letting go of both the “wrong” and the “resentment.” When I am wronged, it is hard to let it go. I think Jesus knew exactly what He was talking about. When I dwell on what was done to me resentment builds up and it hinders me. It literally disables good things in my heart, and it prevents productivity in my life. It also makes it hard for me to love others. Sometimes, I have seen it could potentially affect how I love those who haven’t done anything wrong to me at all. (See loving one another in Galatians 6:2, 5:14, and John 13:33-35)

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

John 15:12

THIS is in the context of His kingdom coming and His will being done on earth as it is in heaven? It’s easier to discuss the topic of miracles, and we should have them in our thoughts and expectations, because Yahweh is THE Miracle Worker. The truth is, the issues of my heart and how I treat people is more important than outward miracles. The condition of my heart before the Lord is of upmost importance in manifesting His will and His Kingdom in my life. IT IS what IS manifesting what He wants in my life. It IS the work of the kingdom.

The Kingdom and His Will in Life Supernaturally

It’s much more enjoyable to talk about the supernatural manifestations of the work of the Holy Spirit. I feel it is first most important to be in the proper place before the Lord in matters of forgiveness, loving one another, and issues of the heart. The Fruits of the Spirit are essential to abiding with Christ and they are essential in how I treat people and the attitude I have.

“On the earth as it is in heaven” is burning in my heart, and I understand that while the Lord wants to do a work on the inside of my heart, He wants also to do a work in my life, so it is released into other’s lives.

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have [already] been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have [already] been loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18 AMP

Jesus was explaining to the disciples how to maintain their hearts, but that doesn’t stop Him from training them for great works. He explains the authority He has provided and how they were to use this authority. In this verse the meaning of “you bind” is very interesting to me.

you bind
δήσητε (dēsēte)
Verb – Aorist Subjunctive Active – 2nd Person Plural
Strong’s 1210: To bind, tie, fasten; I impel, compel; I declare to be prohibited and unlawful. A primary verb; to bind.

The Amplified Bible says to bind is to “forbid, declare to be improper and unlawful.” It also says that to loose is to “permit, declare lawful.”

There is a lot more on binding and loosing. The idea is that the Lord is doing great things and I need to apply His guidance and be sensitive in my prayer life and speak forth what needs to be bound and what needs to be loosed. He has provided this for me. What is in heaven is to be released on the earth. It is part of my job to bind and loose even more so now while so many things are shaking and happening in the world today.

As I allow Him to mold my heart and learn to grasp the fullness of what is in His heart, it will become reality to say, “on the earth as it is in heaven.”

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize].

Matthew 11:12 AMP

FS Word of Power
September 15
Eva Windahl

“No more tears- no more pain…”

When we lose dear and loved ones, when death stares us in the face and sorrow holds our heart in a tight grip- God wants you to know that he sees your suffering- he sees your pain. But hear this: There is NOTHING on Earth that Heaven can’t heal. God will personally comfort you! His heart goes out to you today and wants you to know that he sees every tear you cry. There is Hope because he himself has conquered death! There is Hope because he is indeed ALIVE. There is Hope because he really hears you when you pray. He cares! Today I hear him say: Take heart this too shall pass! Come now and I shall take you in my arms and wipe away all your tears …If you are grieving right now or need to comfort those close to you in pain, allow me to give you the following scriptures from your Father in Heaven reassuring you that he knows your pain.
Revelation 21:4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:4). Jesus, the greatest empathizer, understands what you are going through and will stay beside you.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). The Lord will wrap His arms of love and comfort around those who trust in Him.

“He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). Lean on God and allow Him to continue the process of healing your broken heart.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble” (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4). Comforting you is God’s specialty.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). God promises to be with you and get you through this time of intense disappointment and loneliness.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). Depend on His guidance to lead you out of that dark valley.

“I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, 14). As believers, we have hope of the resurrection promised by God.

“The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. … So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ ” (1 Corinthians 15:52, 54). At Christ’s return, those who belong to Him will be raised and given life that will never end.

//bless ;

Rend Your Hearts – Not Your Garments

Risa Utley

(rutley4779@aol.com)

9/11/2021

Heard this morning:

Joel 2:13
Rend your heart, not your garments, and turn to Adonai, your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abundant in mercy, and relenting about the calamity due.

Rending your garments is only an outward show of mourning, it is for others to see. No change is really made, just an outward appearance. No different than hired mourners to make a show of weeping at a funeral of someone they don’t even know. But it looks good.

Rending your heart is an inward thing, it may be invisible to others, but it results in a real change. It is true mourning, brings true repentance and real change.

We (the ones who name the Name of Jesus, Yeshua) are too quick to rend our garments at injustices (real or perceived) and not our hearts at the real problem: sin. We make a big deal about OUR rights, OUR hurts, but what about Him?

A few years ago, there was a fad about WWJD bracelets, “what would Jesus do”. It is true, if we really took the time to ask that question and listen for the real answer, a lot of trouble could be avoided. But in reality, it was just more of rending our garments, for show. Because if we really wanted to “do as Jesus would do” a lot of what we do “in His name” is really just rending garments and nothing like what He would do.

Remember James and John? When they were not received in a town, they were ready to call down fire from heaven and destroy them, Jesus told them NO. Remember the lady caught in adultery? The “righteous” had the right to stone her, but Jesus said NO. Remember the leper? The law said that a leper had to remain separate, away from people. Jesus not only received the leper, He touched him and healed him. Remember the disciples who saw someone else casting out devils in the name of Jesus and told Jesus to rebuke them because they weren’t “with them”? Jesus said NO.

Social media has made many of us into vocal warriors. We are quick to rend our garments and shout out the injustices we see, we are ready to call down fire upon folks who think differently. We are ready to block, unfriend, and report those whom we believe are wrong. We are “fact-checked” ad nauseum by others who have no more information or truth than we have. We are indignant and ready to fight to the death for our rights.

What if…what if we stopped rending our garments and instead, we rend our hearts? What if we really asked Jesus/Yeshua what He would do? What if we as the body of Christ actually worked to advance the Kingdom of God instead of our idea of what government should be? After all, the world will never be subject to the Law of God and can’t be, until Jesus/Yeshua comes back and sets up His kingdom. We forget that a sinner will always sin, that is all they know. But we are not of the world if we have been born again. So why are we so shocked when the world does what it does?

We are supposed to pray for our leaders. But not so we can get our way, listen to what it says:

I Timothy 2:1-4

1. Therefore, first of all I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all people—

2. for kings and all who are in authority—so we may live a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and respectfulness.

3. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.

4. He desires all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth.

Do you see that? Pray for all people, which includes leaders so that we can live a peaceful and quiet life in godliness and respectfulness. And the reason is because He desired everyone to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth—and the Truth is Jesus. Not what we think is truth. Rending our hearts in prayer and intercession, not our garments so that we appear to be offended.

What would Jesus do? What DID He do? He only had harsh words for the religious “righteous” leaders who were concerned with their place in society and their power to lord over the people. For the sinners, He said come to ME and as they came, they were changed.

We don’t fight this fight with our natural mind or machinations, we fight this on our knees and from our hearts. We don’t convince anyone with rhetoric, we take it to the Lord, get His heart, His mind, and only say/do what He says to say/do.

Let’s rend our hearts, not for show but to see the lost be saved; to repent and seek God to turn the hearts of the people to Him; to heal our land; and to see the Kingdom of God advanced one soul at a time. That is why we are here. We are to bring His Kingdom to earth, to make disciples and bring His message to the lost.

We don’t win people by force, we win them by showing His Heart, His Love.

FS Sunday Sermon
You Have Time to Sit with God
By: Marshall Segal

When we stop to remember that God exists — that he created all that is from nothing; that he sustains everything we know, moment by moment, with just a word from his mouth; that he governs every government on earth; that he entered into his creation, taking on flesh, enduring weakness and temptation, suffering hostility to the point of death, even death on a cross, all to shower us with mercy, cleanse us of our sin, and secure our eternity with him in paradise — it is stunning, isn’t it, that we ignore and neglect him like we do.

Isn’t it amazing that God simply was before time began, and yet we sometimes struggle to find even ten minutes for him? Isn’t it perplexing, bordering on insanity, that we sometimes prefer distracting ourselves with our phones over taking advantage of our breathtaking access to his throne of grace in Christ? Isn’t it kind of unexplainable how we often live as if we do not have time to sit and enjoy God?

It is stunning, amazing, and perplexing, and yet so painfully familiar. Everyone who has followed Jesus knows what it is like to be distracted from following Jesus. That means we all, every one of us, can sympathize with anxious Martha.

Distracted by Fear

When Martha saw that Jesus had come to town, she welcomed him into the home where she and her sister lived (Luke 10:38). When Mary saw Jesus, she immediately sat down at his feet, and hung on his every word (Luke 10:39). “But Martha,” Luke tells us, “was distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40).

To her credit, she was not distracted with little serving, but with much serving. And it’s hard for some of us to be too hard on her. She was hosting the Messiah — Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace — and she alone was preparing the food. Mary realized who Jesus was, and sat down to listen. Martha realized who Jesus was, and ran to do all she could for him.

The serving itself was not the problem — or at least not the main problem — especially given the social expectations for hospitality in her day. What, then, was the problem? Anxiety was consuming Martha. When she complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping her, he responded, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:41). Her grumbling had opened wide a window into her heart. Love was not inspiring her to serve; anxiety was. Her turmoil was driven by misplaced fear. How often is this true of us?

And not just a fear, but many fears. “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.” This wasn’t just about hospitality. Martha was distracted from Jesus because her mind was drowning in the cares of this world. And because she would not stop and listen to Jesus, she was forfeiting the calm she so desperately needed.

One Necessary Thing

Jesus knows how to still the raging waves of anxiety. Notice that he says her name not once, but twice: “Martha, Martha . . .” You can almost hear him slowing down the second time. He uses his voice, like a brake, to slowly quiet the turbulence in her heart. He knows how distracted she is, how wildly her mind is racing from one worry to another, and so he begins by helping her focus: “Martha, Martha . . .”

“You are anxious and troubled about many things,” he goes on to say, “but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42). In just two short sentences, he confronts her sinful anxiety — our sinful anxiety — with necessity, then felicity, and lastly security.

NECESSITY

“You are troubled about many things,” he says, “but one thing is necessary.” In other words, everything that feels so pressing, so critical, so overwhelming is ultimately unnecessary next to hearing and knowing Jesus. Her fears screamed the opposite: What will we serve him? What will he think about the food? How will this compare with other places he’s visited? Did the neighbors notice Jesus came to our house? Why isn’t Mary helping me? We don’t know what precise anxieties were harassing Martha, but we know they were many — and that each concern insisted it was essential and urgent. Only one thing, however, was truly necessary.

Hundreds of years before Martha was born, King David had already learned this lesson: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). He said this while evildoers assailed him (verse 2), and armies encamped against him (verse 3), and lies and threats fell like arrows all around him (verse 12). In other words, he had every reason to fear, and yet even then, he knew the one thing he must do: seek the Lord.

Satan will try to make everything feel more urgent than sitting down to be with Jesus. But in the end, only one thing is truly necessary. And it’s not the hard conversation you’re dreading, or the pile of deadlines at work, or some distant drama on social media, or the exam you need to pass next week, or the debt you’re afraid you’ll never pay off. One thing is necessary — today, tomorrow, next Tuesday, and every day after — to know, obey, and enjoy Jesus.

FELICITY

The necessity of this one pursuit, however, does not make it an unhappy pursuit. “One thing is necessary,” Jesus says. “Mary has chosen the good portion.” While it might seem like Mary had abandoned her responsibilities and left her sister out to dry, she actually had chosen wisely and lovingly.

For choosing the one necessary thing, Mary received the good portion. Necessary was no sacrifice for her; it was all gain. She was drinking from a well that would never run dry, feasting from an overflowing table, swimming in an ocean of hope and peace and joy. Because his presence was her portion, her portion was not just right, but good. Her sitting and listening said what the apostle Paul would one day say in Philippians 3:8: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Martha, meanwhile, was drinking from another well that day — one that left her even more thirsty. While the fountain of living water sat in her living room, she feverishly carved out cisterns for herself, “broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13). That’s how the fear of man oppresses us: it begs and pleads for our attention, but is never satisfied. Fear breeds fear breeds fear. But the good fountain — the good portion — breeds peace and contentment, quenches our thirsts, satisfies our longings, and gives our souls rest. Necessity, for Mary and for us, is also felicity.

SECURITY

Lastly, this necessary and happy pursuit is also profoundly safe. “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Not only has Mary chosen wisely, sitting at his feet to receive his words, but she has chosen happiness. And not just any happiness, but a full and abundant happiness that no person or circumstance could ever take from her. Is there any better word to a heart distracted by worry? The good I will give you, you will never, ever lose.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37–39)

Have the cares of this world distracted you from sitting at the feet of Jesus? Have your fears left you feeling restless, insecure, unstable? The God of the universe is still speaking, right now, in his word. Hear his voice calling your name today, bidding you to come and enjoy the one necessary thing, the one satisfying thing, the one safe thing. You have time to sit with God.