I walked into the room where I was going to meet with Jesus.
I had my little journal and bible all ready in hand. I looked around and the
place was a mess. It looked like a tornado came through which is pretty much
what happens when there are 57 of you. Trash was on every table and chairs were
all scattered. I am not going to lie I was frustrated. My thoughts were ugly. After 9 months you would think by now we
would know how to bring kingdom to places and leave them better than we found
them… doesn’t anyone care? When they went to bed didn’t they notice how the
room looked? Come on people!
Haha terrible I know. In my head the right thing to do is
throw your trash away. That is what we should
do. But at that point it didn’t matter. I picked up the whole place with a
Martha attitude of frustration and thoughts of what about them? Why can’t they
do what they are “supposed” to do?
I am reading through Luke and am currently in Chapter 10. I
have been reading through commentating and analyzing it bit by bit. This morning
it was one of my favorite stories. Mary and Martha. I feel like I refer to Mary
all of the time. I love that she sat at Jesus’ feet. If you haven’t read the
story here it is.
“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And
a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called
Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was
distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you
not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about
many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion,
which will not be taken away from her.”‘ – Luke 10: 38- 42
Martha is doing what is right in the eyes of Christians
anywhere. She is serving and picking up the trash. She is the one behind the
scenes preparing Jesus’ meal. But she reveals her heart when she asks Jesus “do
you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” “Tell her to help me.”
Sounds a lot like “tell them to pick up their trash”. My heart was that of
Martha’s worried about others when the whole point of waking up was to sit at
my Kings feet.
“Moriah. Moriah, do not look to the right or the left or be
embittered by what others are doing/not doing. I am right before you. Choose
what is better- it will never be taken away from you.”
I noticed some other things in the passage. Martha is the
one to welcome Jesus in. If it wasn’t for Martha Mary might not have gotten the
chance to sit at Jesus’ feet in her home. Interesting. When Jesus is in her
home Mary’s first response is to sit at his feet and listen. Do I do that? Is
that my first response when I see Jesus? When I go to church am I busy greeting
others that I miss greeting my savior? Do I run around “serving” or simply sit
with Him?
Martha in her head is doing what is right. She is serving
Jesus Christ… but I can’t help but think she must have known it wasn’t enough.
As she is running around she stops and sees what her sister is doing. It stirs
something in her. She is jealous. She wants to be sitting with Jesus but can’t
because of the cares of the world placed on her. But Jesus never asked her to
do all that she was doing. She placed it on herself because “that is what has
to be done”. Man… do we do that or do we do that? We place so much on our
plates sometimes when He never even asked us to… In our heads we are doing what
is right but is it right in His eyes or others? Maybe in the church it looks
great but does it matter?
What did Jesus say to Martha?
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many
things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is better and it will
never be taken away from her.” Back up a second did you hear that? It will
NEVER be taken away from her. I love that. The time I spend with my savior
isn’t empty time. It is precious moments that I will carry into eternity with
me. Moth and dust will destroy everything else but not my time with Jesus.
I want a heart posture like Mary’s. I don’t want to invite
Jesus in yet be distracted by things others and I think should be done. If I have said it once I have said it a hundred
times. I want to move, talk and walk when Jesus does. Sometimes we do more in
the day then He asks us to.
My prayer for you and myself today is that we would do no
more and no less than what Jesus would have us do today. And when He asks us to
do something not to look to the right or the left at what others are doing or
not doing but to obey with a pure heart that simply wants to be with our Lord
and obey Him. May we not be so busy with things we have to get done that we miss what is better.
