Lay down what’s good and find what’s best

³⁸ Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. ⁴² But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)

 

I find it strange how different a person can be from one step of their Christian walk to the next. It is a path littered with highs and lows, mountains and valleys, pastures and deserts, palaces and wilderness…….

We come to expect these things though, knowing that many before us traveled in the same manner. All for the good of their souls and ours. We all must go through the process of burning away the dross in order to become more like our Master Jesus.

And we can never forget that He is indeed our Master, and we His servants. The disciples and many others called Him Master. Far too often we forego this title, not wanting to walk in the shoes of servanthood, but this is what we are called to.

Jesus reminded the disciples of their purpose and of His own, that He came to serve. “Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. ⁴⁴ And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:43-45).

But God calls us to more than serving for the sake of serving.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is this ““You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.”” (Matthew 22:37-38). He goes on to say “’And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:39).

So even ahead of servanthood, God calls for our worship. He commands we put Him first, then we shall serve our neighbors.

The story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10 makes this concept all the clearer. I have read this scripture many times before, but never did it occur to me in this manner.

But then again, I was in a different section of my journey. I was Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet. My love and devotion to Him always overshadowed the things going on around me…..until now.

Where had my worship gone? I still loved Him. I still prayed. I still read my word. And yet, I had to examine myself.

I didn’t spend time with Him like I used to. I didn’t pray with the passion and fervency that I had before. I didn’t meditate on His word as I had been prone to doing.

It wasn’t until our church went through revival that I saw exactly where I was situated in correlation to my Master. He showed me quite clearly. He spoke straight to my heart.

Martha, Martha……

Oh how I wept! How could I have removed myself from His feet? How did I get so wrapped up in serving, working, and doing, that I didn’t even have time for the most important One in my life?

I had let the worries of life begin to cover me and slowly choke the life out of me. Even my servitude had become lackluster, more of a duty than a desire or purpose. I had become distracted by the things of the world.

My health, my child, my friendships, my job, my house…..all of these things that were meant to enrichen my life had become my prison. I was bound by duty. I was bound by fatigue. I was bound by resentment and self-pity.

“Whoa is me!” became my banner. It was my praise.

And the whole time my Master, my Jesus, sat there waiting for me to take notice. Waiting for me to come to Him.

Think about the story. Martha had graciously invited the Lord to come to her home. And as usual, wherever Jesus was, there were those who followed. Imagine the home bustling with energy as everyone sought to hear Him speak, hanging on His every word.

And in the background, Martha plowed along, doing what “must” be done. After all, Martha was the hostess. It was her house that everyone had come to. She was to make them feel at home. Her duty was to “take care” of everyone by making sure they had refreshments and food.

Imagine Martha working up a sweat to ensure everyone had everything they needed. After all, she was the hostess. She couldn’t let anyone down.

I’m going to stop right here for the moment because everything I just wrote explains my very state. It really isn’t that hard to imagine wanting to “take care” of people and making sure they have what they need. It isn’t that hard to imagine pushing past my own spiritual needs to do all that “must” be done so no one and nothing suffers neglect.

You see, it is so easy to get caught up in doing what we thing is right just because it is a good thing. There are many good things to be done, but what if doing that good thing keeps you from doing the best thing. Often we have to lay down what’s good in order to find what’s best.

And Mary knew that all along.

She knew exactly what she was going to do from the moment she heard of Jesus’ visit to her sister’s house. Mary was going to sit at her Master’s feet and worship Him in truth. She wasn’t going to let anyone or anything keep her from Jesus.

She was a true worshipper of her Lord!

To worship is to show respect, love, and excessive admiration to someone or something.

And the question we have to ask ourselves is to whom or to what do we show the greatest respect, love, and excessive admiration to?

In her actions, Mary displayed a true worshipper of the Lord, as she devoted her attention, her time, her heart, and so much more to Jesus Christ. Martha, however, devoted herself to works, which are important, but are meaningless if they do not stem from a heart of worship to God. God must come first!

Solomon said in Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.”

Meaning, it doesn’t matter how beautiful, how good, how successful, how noble your work is, if you do not love God, seek Him, or place Him as your first priority in life, your work is meaningless.

So what to do now? For Martha, all it took was a soft rebuke from the Master to check herself. We do not know how she reacted to Him, but we know that they all stayed close friends, almost like family to one another. Many times in the scriptures we hear of the family of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus being with Jesus.

Obviously the correction from her Master caused her to check herself and her motives.

Is that all it will take for us to repent; to walk away from what we think is best, and take hold of what God says is best?

Because repentance is what is needed when we find ourselves distanced from the Lord. We need to turn from our ways and return to our Lord Jesus. And you’ll find that it’s not a great distance to reach Him. After all, He was waiting right there in Martha’s living room as she ran around preoccupied with the worries of life. He sat there the whole time waiting for her to turn back to Him.

And He’s the same God now as He was then.

All it takes from us is having a contrite heart.

David tells us in Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise.”

And man, did David know a thing or two about repentance! But guess what? He also knew a lot about worship!

It’s not too late! God loves us and He understands that we are not perfect. His word says that “He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).

It is in our repentance that we come to know Him in a deeper way. It is in our repentance that our worship is revived. As we come back to our Master expecting a whooping, we look up to see Him with His arms open wide. God desires reconciliation with us! He desires for us to choose Him.

And choose Him, I do! Forever and ever, I do!

You’ll find me at the feet of Jesus. Hope to see you there!

 

Much love,

Kelly

Beautiful song of worship by Christy Nockels

Find Me At The Feet Of Jesus