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.”
Luke 10:40-42 NIV
Many of us know the story of Martha and Mary very well and we associate Martha with the “spirit of busyness”. We live in a world that is go, go, go all the time. We are constantly bombarded with information and distractions at every turn. We are “movers and shakers” and have to “make things happen”, or so we think lol. Something the Lord gently reminded me of earlier today is that “busyness” does not equal “fruitfulness” …ouch!
Many of us can be like Martha and wear “busyness” as a badge of honor. This can cause us to see others that are not doing what we are as “slackers” and lead us into murmuring and complaining. The sad truth is that many of us have the schedules we do by choice. We say “yes” too much or we do not say “no” quite often enough. I have to remind myself often, not every good thing is a God thing. Although, we can’t swing the pendulum to the other side and make excuses not to serve God or do a particular thing He is directing us to do because “we don’t have time”. Truth be told we tend to make time for what we want to. This is why it is vitally important especially as believers to present our “plates” to the Lord and allow Him to say what should stay and what should go.
If we step back and look at what was really going on in this account Jesus was not telling Martha what she was doing was bad but was trying to help her gain perspective and adjust her priorities so she could see the bigger picture and choose what was better in that moment. The decision that would yield better and longer lasting fruit!
As the Holy Spirit was dropping nuggets into my heart for this blog, He told me His people are weary. However, much of this weariness is caused by our own doing.
We are running on empty and empty vessels can’t pour out! So, what do we do?
We access the cure for this weariness, and that cure is Jesus!
Sometimes we just have to turn off the “Martha” and sit at His feet. Practically speaking, this means turning off the devices and noise (disconnect) and spending quality time with the Lord (connect). In His Presence we are refueled and strengthened for this journey called life but WE HAVE TO CHOOSE THE BETTER THING!
I have included links to some worship songs that may help facilitate your “Mary” time 🙂
Pursuing His Promises 