Be a Mary.

Luke 10:38-42 “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”  “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.   Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.””

How often, when asked “How are you?”, do we respond “I’m busy!”  It seems like a fact of life these days.  We run from one thing to the next just trying to keep up.  And the same applies to our spiritual lives.  We are busy running to church, to Bible study, to this or that ministry and we just can’t sit still. Idle hands are the “devil’s workshop”, after all….right?

Far too often, we value being ‘busy’ for God over taking time to quietly sit at His feet.  In fact, if we’re honest, we might feel some guilt if we’re sitting too long.  If we’re accomplishing things, checking the boxes and serving well, then our commitment and spiritual maturity will be validated, right?  Yet, that’s not what God asks of us.  He wants us to sit at His feet and listen.  He wants our full attention and focused heart and mind.

There is no doubt we’ve modeled service to our sons and daughters.  But we have to ask ourselves, have we modeled the intentional practice of sitting at the Lord’s feet to listen to Him and learn from Him?  We need to continually practice that and then encourage that as well.

Martha served committedly, but Mary chose the better option, that which would impact her for eternity. She stopped and took time to focus on Jesus. Only Jesus.

Today, let’s pray that our sons and daughters choose what is better and, each day, quietly sit with Jesus to listen to and learn from Him.  Take time today to slow down, sit down and listen to Jesus.

“Lord, help me to sit and listen to You.  Remind me today to do more than just pause, but to take time to sit down with You, listen to You and enjoy quiet time, just me and You.  I pray that (name) would learn the practice of sitting and listening to You, too.  As life gets faster and crazier, our hearts and minds need that quiet practice of sitting at Your feet, undistracted by all that’s going on in the world and in our lives.  Help us to be a “Mary” in this world that would cheer us on to be a Martha until we collapse.  Lord, make us mindful and draw us to sit down and listen..  In Jesus name, amen.”

Pray without ceasing.