I keep coming back to the simple story of Mary, Martha, and Jesus.
Luke 10:38-42
“As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
This is what I love about the Word of God. Year after year, I ponder on this scripture, and every time, a new aspect becomes clearer. I personally believe that we are in a time where everything is being advertised. We share our lives on social media; we share our achievements, events, opportunities, etc. With all of this information whirling around, one can easily pick up the thought, “My life does not look like that; something must be wrong with me.” When this thought enters our minds, we may conclude that the solution is action. Please do not misunderstand me; sometimes God is calling us to action, BUT the problem comes in when we manufacture this action out of our own desires and not His will for our lives.
The new perspective that I have found regarding this scripture is as follows: Jesus tells Martha that Mary has discovered the one thing worth being concerned about and, furthermore, that this one thing will not be taken away from her. I remember a special moment that I had with the Lord (I will not go into too much detail right now), and in this moment, the only thing that was clear was how much God loved me. That was it. There was nothing else that mattered. And it astounded me how free and full and sincere it was, even though my reality may not have reflected that.
I do not think that being busy with Kingdom work is a bad thing, but not everything and not every place is of and/or from God. We can so easily become distracted by the work that we miss Him. Our theology is a bit skewed when we believe that works precede relationship. It is my belief that the opposite is true: a relationship with the Lord should always be your priority.
Martha wanted to impress Jesus with the big dinner that she prepared, and when it was clear that she was becoming overwhelmed and frustrated with the responsibility of that task, Jesus gently told her that He was already in her house and all she needed to do was sit at His feet. That should have been her main concern.
I’ll end with a question: what is our priority? Is it that we want to impress God with our works, or worse, are we doing things to be seen by man? Or does the work we do for the kingdom come from the overflow of our relationship with Him? Let us not trade in something eternal (“it will not be taken away from her.”) for something temporary (“distracted by the big dinner she was preparing”).
