By Bailey Law
Class of 2023
Fellows life is full. My weeks are full of good things: a job where I get to contribute to the work of an awesome ministry (shoutout to the Eagles!), a seminary class, professional development opportunities, visiting nonprofits, volunteering at an after-school program, and time in the Word and in fellowship with my fellow fellows. I have an amazing host family and a broader church community of people who are excited to get to know me and support me.
When this program started a few months ago, I dove into the deep end of all of these good things. I love having a full schedule. I love the sense of purpose I have in my job. I love getting to grow in relationship with my peers and mentors. I love getting to learn more about this city that I LOVE. Can you tell I love it here?
Where is this going? It’s not all good all the time, is it?
Of course not. These good things are sneaky. Somewhere deep down, my heart starts to get it twisted. I start to look to work and relationships to give me the life that I so long for. The problem is that these things were never meant to satisfy those longings.
The reality is that if I’m not spending time with Jesus, sitting in his presence, growing in my relationship with him, the rest of the stuff I’m doing doesn’t matter at all. Not even the ministry stuff! Jesus wants to free me from the burden of trying to squeeze life out of things that were never meant to give me what I most deeply long for. The truth is that he is the only one who can satisfy those longings in my heart.
He gives me good gifts: good work to invest in and good people to build community with, but they were never intended to take His place. I find myself having a similar conversation with Jesus that Martha did when she welcomed him into her home that day (Luke 10). I want him to notice what I’m doing; he wants me to be with him.
He invites me to choose the good portion — to sit at his feet. He has given me a lot of really good things, but like he tells Martha, only one thing is necessary: my relationship with him. It sounds too simple to be true. But I will miss the point of this year and of this life if I am constantly distracted by doing, like Martha was that day.
When I look to Jesus to fill the longings of my heart, I become free to enjoy work and relationships without depending on them to give me the abundant life that only he can offer. Though my heart wants to run to my work and people in my life to find my identity, Jesus offers a worth that never changes and a love that never ends. I want to keep choosing the one thing that is necessary.