By David ReayThursday 7 Jul 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
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.” (NLT)
Telling others how busy we are can sometimes be a form of boasting. We can so easily measure our worth by how much we do, and confuse activity with achievement. It is no sin to be busy and active, but that busyness and activity is not always necessary or fruitful.
Jesus reminds Martha of this. Her getting things ready was not wrong, and we can even imagine him nudging Mary to help her sister in all that. It was just a case of first things first. In seeking to serve Jesus, our first priority is to be with him. Simply being busy in his service may cover up emptiness, or be an attempt to impress others. Before we can be fruitful Marthas we need to be reflective Marys.
We need a balance: quiet reflective times with Jesus, and active service of Jesus. Otherwise, we may fall into the trap of being those who dreamily sit at Jesus’ feet all day and leave the hard work to others. Or being those who frantically fuss about trying to change the world by our own strenuous efforts.
It is good to have some irons in the fire. But it is no good at all to have many irons in the fire if the fire itself is going out.
Blessings,
David