1. There are three incidents recorded in Scripture involving Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus.  They are found in John 11:17-37; John 12:1-8 (and its parallels in Matthew 26 & Mark 14); and Luke 10:38-42.  In each incident we find Mary at Jesus’ feet in devotion to Him.

2.  The point of Luke 10:38-42 is that activity for Jesus (life, ministry) must be built upon time with Jesus.  As a writer put it to be occupied with Jesus is more important than to be occupied for Jesus. It is a call to a balanced life with right priorities.

3.  “The great enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ in the present day is the conception of practical work that has not come from the New Testament, but from the systems of the world in which endless energy and activities are insisted upon, but no private life with God.  The emphasis is put on the wrong thing.  We have to get rid of the plague of the spirit of the religious age in which we live.  In Our Lord’s life there was none of the press and rush of tremendous activity that we regard so highly, and the disciple is to be as his Master.” (Oswald Chambers)

4.  Gordon MacDonald, in Ordering Your Private World, put it this way: “If my private world is in order, it will be because I am convinced that the inner world of the spiritual must govern the outer world of activity.”

5.  Dr. Stanley Toussaint suggested the following six priorities for the Christian: persons before things; home before occupation; partner before children; children before friends; partner before self; and spiritual before material.