Luke 10:38-42

She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said.  But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.  Luke 10:39-40

We must not get so involved with life's busy and hectic schedule that we forget to sit at Jesus' feet. We must never neglect our quiet time with Him in prayer and Bible reading.  In our Biblical story today Jesus was visiting in the home of Martha and Mary.  How excited Martha and Mary must have been to have the Lord Jesus come to their home!  Martha was an energetic "take charge" type person. Perhaps Mary was a more "laid back" and meditative person.  God uses all kinds of personalities in His kingdom for different purposes.  So no matter what personality type we possess we can be used by the Lord.  We need to bring ourselves and our personalities under the Lordship of the Lord, however, and we must seek to do all for His glory.

When Jesus came to Martha and Mary's house Luke chapter ten verse thirty-nine says that Mary "sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said."  Martha, however, was running around frantically making preparations for the meal that she was planning to serve the Lord Jesus.  Luke chapter ten verse forty tells us that Martha was very "distracted by all the preparations that had to be made."

Soon Martha became annoyed that her sister, Mary, was not helping her.  She complained to Jesus in the last part of verse forty.  Martha said, "Lord, don't You care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?  Tell her to help me!"  Jesus answered Martha in Luke chapter ten verses forty-one and forty-two by saying, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Jesus was not condemning Martha for her service.  God's kingdom needs people who are energetic in His service.  Jesus, however, was admonishing Martha for allowing her busy schedule to interfere with needed and precious time in the Lord's presence.

So we also must remember that it is not what we do for the Lord that is important.  What is important is that we are abiding in the Lord in what we are doing.  All of our activity should be filled with a sense of the Lord's presence right beside, before, and behind us.  Our lives must be filled with His agenda and not our own.  To be about God's agenda in this world we need to be abiding in Him and communing with Him.  We must not become so involved with life's activities that we miss the joy of Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to Him.

In these days of tension, turmoil, and frantic schedules we must take time for quiet times with the Lord in His Holy Word and prayer.  This is the one thing that is needed and essential in our lives! It should be our number one priority in our lives to grow in our love relationship with the Lord. Even if we are busy in service for the Lord, if we neglect time sitting at the Lord's feet; our service for the Lord will not be blessed.  Only when we have taken time with the Lord can we experience the peace and joy of the awareness of His presence in our many activities of the day.

I at one time had a placard on a windowsill in my kitchen.  I think it must have gotten lost in one of my moves.  It read, "God is more interested in my character than in my activity."  That reminds me that I need to more concerned with showing a Christ-like character than in accomplishing all the things on my "to do" list.  God is interested in our service, but we can only properly serve Him, if we first have spent time with Him!