“Now while they were on their way, Jesus entered a village, called Bethany, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was continually listening to His teaching. But Martha was very busy and distracted with all of her serving responsibilities; and she approached Him and said, “Lord, is it of no concern to You that my sister has left me to do the serving alone? Tell her to help me and do her part.” But the Lord replied to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered and anxious about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, that which is to her advantage, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42
Most of us know the story of Martha and Mary, and most of us desire to be like Mary, don’t we?
However, I have found that I have more of Martha in me than I desire.
Quite often I will plan to spend time with God, quiet time, just Him and I. As I sit down and grab my Bible, I think, ‘I should put in that load of laundry first’, so I do. You know, so it can wash as I spend time with God.
Or I see a few dishes that need clearing and I do that first. Once I begin doing chores or errands, my mind is off God and onto what needs to be done before I can spend quiet time with God.
More often than not, something will come up that doesn’t allow me to get back to my original plan.
As I meditated on this passage of scripture this morning, something caught my eye. It was Martha that welcomed Jesus into their home, she is the one who invited him to come in and visit.
However, as soon as He was in the door, she was busy, preparing, cooking, serving and doing all the things she felt responsible for. There is nothing wrong with being responsible. There is absolutely nothing wrong with serving.
However, one thing was needed.
When it is time to spend time with Jesus, only one thing is needed. He doesn’t care if your laundry needs done, it will be there later. He doesn’t mind if you have a few dishes in the sink, they will wait on you. He doesn’t mind if you have to leave the kids asleep for an extra thirty minutes, there is one thing He desires. To spend time with you. To commune with you.
Jesus said one thing will last. One thing will remain. The food will be gone, the cleaned house will get dirty again, but one thing will last forever and that is the time we spend at the feet of Jesus.
God has started doing this thing with me. If I do as I shared earlier and start to spend time with God but jump up and do laundry or dishes, or begin to put things away, He simply says to me ‘Martha, Martha.’
Today, for some reason I looked up the meaning of Martha’s name. Martha means she was rebellious, at least in the Strong’s Concordance. Ouch!
Paul said, ‘I know what I should be doing, but my flesh wants to do something else.’ I know exactly how he felt. My spirit wants to spend time with God, my flesh constantly recites the list of things that must be done.
However, it is like I have told my daughter for years, it’s a choice. Everything in life is a choice. And the Bible tells us to choose life.
To choose life we must choose to lay aside everything that is hindering us from spending time with God and sit at the feet of Jesus. It is, after all, the only thing that will remain and that will not be taken from us. Just as Jesus said.
Today, silence the Martha in you and sit at His feet, you will be so glad you did.
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Refuse anything that is the opposite of peace.
Refuse fear, doubt and oppression and command
the covenant of peace to operate in your life – it’s your promise!
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