Everyone knows the story of Mary and Martha. It’s not like it’s been preached for a long time or anything…because you know…it has been…but there’s nothing wrong with that! Their story is an essential one as it teaches a fundamental lesson regarding where our focus is. Just because we work hard and focus on tasks at hand doesn’t mean that we’re always doing the right thing.
If you attended the Sunday morning service at Flatland174, you might recall the sermon being interrupted by Pastor Kelvin attempting to vacuum the floors. For at least 5 minutes, he emphasized to Pastor Bob how much help he needed cleaning the church. There is so much work to be done (for the grand opening on March 31st!), and for everything to get finished, we may have to work on it all the time. Well, here comes the first issue. The issue is that when we focus more on working and the details of attaining a goal, we lose the opportunity to hear from God. We get distracted by all the things we must do and miss what’s He’s whispering in our ear. Just like Martha, we all like to keep ourselves busy. That word is significant because it doesn’t mean just having a lot to do. Busy is an acronym for ‘Being Under Satan’s Yoke.’ When we are busy, we allow Satan power over our lives when he doesn’t deserve it. He can use us to his advantage, and we miss out on things that God wants us to do.
So then the question is, how do we keep from getting too busy and focusing on what needs to be done? It’s not easy to stop focusing on what you need to get done. It’s going to be very hard. However, if we stop moving around and trying to get things done, we have the opportunity to listen to God’s voice. He will begin whispering in our ear and give us the tasks He wants us to complete. He wants to spend time with us as well. Our relationship with Him is, and we don’t want to miss it as Martha did in 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.”
As we continue to look at the story of Mary and Martha, you’ll notice another issue that Martha encountered. She started to compare herself to Mary and questioned why Mary wasn’t doing anything to help prepare the meal. How many times have you found yourself comparing your life to others? We all do it, especially when we see that one person on social media that is in a tropical location enjoying the warm sun while we freeze here in Nebraska under all the snow and this is the problem. We compare our lives to others and find things that they have that we don’t. While we may envy their lives, think about it from a different angle. We also compare ourselves to those that are less fortunate than us. Some of us have better and bigger houses than others, and every time we visit, our thoughts are “Wow, my house is so much bigger and better than this.” Why do we do this? Why do we continue to compare ourselves to other people whether they have more or less than us? Guess what, it doesn’t matter! Comparing ourselves is something that hinders us from moving to the center of God’s kingdom. We shouldn’t be worried about what we think, but rather what God thinks. 1 Samuel 16:7 gives this perspective:
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
The heart. Where is your heart at when you look at another person? Are you envious of what they have or do you take pity on them for what they don’t have? What would expect them to have based on how they look?
Expectation can be such an ugly word. According to Google, the definition of expectation is a belief that someone will or should achieve something. Most of the time, we hold ourselves and our fellow Christians to a higher expectation. We tend to start putting them on pedestals rather than treating them as equals. Imagine a world where we didn’t have any expectations or people upon pedestals. Do you think it would be an excellent place to live? If we didn’t have expectations, we wouldn’t be disappointed. However, that’s not necessarily the point. God has an expectation. He expects us to be will to sit at His feet and listen to what He has to say. He is always whispering words to us, but unless we take the time to listen, we won’t be able to hear what He’s saying. He wants us to live our lives sitting at his feet because the closer we are, the more we learn about His heart. The more we learn, the lighter our suitcase becomes. He is the only one that can help us travel light. So think about these three questions and what your answers are. Are they heading in the right direction and line with Psalm 27:4?
