Last week I went to a women’s conference at my church. It was fantastic. Filled with lots of laughter but also a lot of soul searching.
A very dear friend of mine spoke that night and it thoroughly convicted me. Have you ever had those moments where you’re like, “She’s talking to me, isn’t she?” Yeah, that’s where I was.
So I’m going to start this off with some verses out of the book of Luke.
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
“But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42
So first off, am I the only person that thinks there should be a third Martha in there and it could be like a Brady Bunch line? LOL, just kidding.
But in all seriousness, I am a Martha. I was completely convicted of that. I get distracted. I get busy. It’s not always with things that aren’t important. Sometimes it’s with things that are, and the busy work gets me so focused and distracted that I forget to read the Word and spend time with the Father. I still listen to my daily Bible plan, but I don’t always take the time to truly spend with Jesus.
She brought up a great point from the book of Revelations that outlines this every thought.
I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Revelation 2:2-4
It wasn’t that Martha was doing a bad thing. She was serving. She was going things right. She was doing things for Jesus. Trying to make things all prepared and ready, but she had forgotten her first love which WAS Jesus. She was so busy doing things for Him that she forgot about Him.
Am I the only one guilty of this? Getting so busy that I put Jesus in a corner and ask Him to wait there while I work on other things? Even things that are for my faith. There are times that I will do things for Jesus, without Jesus. Then when things get tough, I wonder where He went and why He’s not there?
Here’s the kicker. He never left, He’s still in the corner where I left Him waiting for me to take that step towards Him and include Him.
We need to take time to be less like Martha and more like Mary. Not forgetting our first love, the one that created us and loves us with an everlasting love. We cannot let the love and passion we once had dwindle down to an ember. We need to sit at His feet daily. Not just listening to the Word, but actually spending time Him. Building relationship with Him.
Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen the good part. She had remembered her first love.
There were several statements that the speaker had given that would show our light is beginning to dim. Things that are warning signs that our fire is fading.
- Delight turns into Duty
- I get to turns to I have to
- Devotion becomes going through the motions
You have to work to keep the flame going. Don’t do things for Jesus without Jesus.
Let’s work to be a little more like Mary and a little less like Martha.
angelaschmeling 