The story begins in Luke 10 vs 38-42. A woman named Martha had opened up her house to Jesus and His disciples, she had a sister named Mary. Rather than busying herself with activities for Jesus, like her sister Martha who was distracted by all the preparations she thought she had to make, Mary chose to spend time with Jesus, at His feet, listening to every word coming from Him. This annoyed Martha, she couldn’t understand why her sister was doing ‘nothing’ whilst she was running around do all this work. Martha even told Jesus to tell Mary to help her and as per usual, Christ’s response was perfect. Christ told her that she was worried about many things but really only one thing was needed, (time with Him, at His feet) Christ went on to say that Mary had chosen what was best and that it could never be taken away from her…
The message is simple; Martha did what she thought she had to do. That was her mistake, she used her own wisdom, its clear her heart may not have been as rooted in Christ as her sisters was, who knew she would be crazy to miss out on an opportunity to sit at the feet of Christ and listen to Him. Martha’s intentions were good, she wanted to make Christ comfortable and feel welcomed. Or maybe she just wanted Christ and others to see her as someone who was active for Christ (scandal!!). Mary did what was best, she spent time at the feet of Christ. She prioritized time with Him over everything else because she had a heart of devotion. What was the point of a whole Christ being in your house and you’re busy cooking or cleaning up? She chased after eternal pursuits, our time with Christ is invaluable, its important to cease everything even if we are doing it for Him, to actually spend time with Him. Time in God’s presence can never be taken away from us, the peace we feel, the revelations we get, the comfort He provides, who or what can actually take that away from us? *que crickets*
Never be too busy doing things for God that you miss time with Him. Often we get the two confused. As much as we give out, we must be poured back in to and if we don’t take time to allow God to refill us, soon we will burn out and start telling God that people aren’t helping us or start relying on our own knowledge to do things leading to missed opportunities for refreshment (D A N G E R O U S).
John 6:35