Oh Martha...

" ...Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.'" (Luke 10:38-42, ESV)

Fewer things in my life make me feel like I'm wasting my life more than when welcome God and I'm reading in His Word yet everything within me is reading over the to-do lists, the scripts that I've written in my mind regarding circumstances or relationship issues going on or when I'm thinking to myself, "How can I use this for others in shepherding them in their walk with the Lord?" All of these things are not bad. In fact, it might even be a good thing for me to ask myself how I can be using these things for others.

Yet, living a life of constant service is a life that does not fully recognizing Jesus Christ for Who He is. Living a life of constant service is a lie from the pit of Hell that tells Christians that God wants my service. What a lie! If God wanted man's service, He would not have sent His Son to serve and not be served. A life of constant service that neglects sitting at the feet of Jesus, like Mary, is a life that does not recognize Jesus, the Living Word, as "more to be desired...than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb." (Psalm 19:10-11, ESV)

What is your life's gold rush? What is your life's sweetener? Is your life's gold rush after the Mountain from which all the golden nuggets came from? Or just one golden nugget offspring? Is your life's sweetener the honeycomb from which all the drippings came from? Or just a single dripping?

O God let us not be Marthas who welcome you into our homes but do not recognize Who you are as the Living Word, the One from Whom we all find our life, the One through Whom we live and the One to Whom our lives are lived. May we welcome you in and sit at Your feet. Amen.