This morning I was reading in Acts 6. I didn't get far before the Lord stopped me. The beginning of this chapter deals with setting up church leadership... but there is a phrase in verse 4 that jumped out at me and applies even not only to church leadership, but also to our day to day lives.
"give attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word."
Isn't this what the Lord wants each of us to do? To give attention... make time... priority time... to pray and be in the Word and pour the Word into others?
I am busy... as most everyone of you are too... and if I am not careful, the busyness of my life takes over and causes me to either not give attention to prayer and the Word or to do so rapidly as if to get it done and off my to-do list for the day... a task, not a delight. As I pondered this phrase, I was taken back to a familiar story in Luke 10. Jesus has come to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Martha is rushing about making sure everything is done... not bad things.. things that need to be dealt with, but that don't have to take priority right then.... they will still be there to do once Jesus has left the house. Mary, on the other hand, has stopped all her activity and is sitting at the feet of Jesus taking in all He says (Luke 10:39). Martha continues to work and work and get more frazzled as she has a pity party in her mind about all she is doing and all Mary is not. She decides to make Jesus aware of the injustice of the situation, but is, no doubt, taken back by His reply:
"Martha, Martha, 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" (Luke 10:41-42)
Today, I want to choose what is better... I want to give attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word. I pray to have ears that hear and a heart that responds to whatever the Lord calls me to. I want to be a sheep that knows the Shepherd's voice and responds when He calls.
What will you choose today?
Showing posts with label Mary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mary. Show all posts
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Stilling the Busyness
I am re-reading the book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. I read it back in 2002 and loved it! A couple of things really stood out to me this morning and I thought I would share them with y'all...
Weaver is talking about the "one thing" Mary chose...
"The 'one thing' is not found in doing more. It's found by sitting at His feet. Mary sat at His feet... she listened.. she didn't come up with clever responses or a doctrinal thesis. Her gift was availability." "The only requirement for a deeper friendship with God is showing up with a heart open and ready to receive."
How true all that is! And I fall short so often. I am in a hurry... or I am trying to hard to make Scripture speak to me. I have got to learn to sit and listen.... to still my mind... to give Him my attention and soak in all He has to show me. Kari Jobe sings an awesome song called The More I Seek You and in it she sings "I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hand, lean back against You and breathe" That line just grabs my heart every time I hear it and I find myself singing it in prayer to the Lord often these days. (If you want to hear this awesome song go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3GijrnfStk )
The question was posed... which woman do you relate to most... Mary or Martha? I have always felt I was a Mary and I think at one time... during a season of my life... I was. But while I am not a perfectionist or a super homemaker or anything like that, I find that I am constantly busy.. even when I am still my brain is running through a list of things I need to do.. so I am definitely relating more with Martha these days. Busyness sees to invade my everything... even my time with God. I just don't seem to be able to let go and really relax... sit at His feet... listen.. BE STILL AND KNOW... the comment was made in this chapter that we will fore go (or postpone) time with God to do the urgent things... we live in a constant state of urgency. But what is more urgent.. more important than time with God? Surely there are times when something needs our immediate attention... like a crying baby or sick child... but often our urgent things aren't really urgent in the grand scheme of things.
Luke 10:40 says "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made..." I personalized this verse.. But Barbara is distracted by all she has to do.. and the thing I realize is I impose the HAS not God.. I decide what HAS to be done. The thing is I know that if I spend time with Him and let go of my have-to-do list, He will make time and a way for me to get done the things that truly do need to be done. I have seen Him do that, but for some reason I seem to have forgotten that He can!
One more thing.. at the end of v. 42 is says "Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her." First... it's a choice whether I spend time with Jesus or not. 2nd.. what intrigues me is the phrase "it will not be taken away"... surely no time spent with Jesus is a waste... no time in the Word or in Prayer is trivial or of no use... but what I wonder is this.... is the reverse true? If Mary's choice will not be taken away from her, will Martha's? Does all the energy and effort of serving come to no true fruition? Surely not all service, but when we serve instead of worshipping... when we choose work over grace.... when we serve because we feel we have to or that no one else will instead of letting some things go and just sitting at His feet and soaking in the time we have with our Savior. I think that time of service ends up being lost to us... we can never get back that moment.. that opportunity to be with Jesus. BUT PTL we are given more chances.. we can stop at any moment and say Lord, Speak to me... and He will. We just have to be available and have an open and expectant heart!
Weaver is talking about the "one thing" Mary chose...
"The 'one thing' is not found in doing more. It's found by sitting at His feet. Mary sat at His feet... she listened.. she didn't come up with clever responses or a doctrinal thesis. Her gift was availability." "The only requirement for a deeper friendship with God is showing up with a heart open and ready to receive."
How true all that is! And I fall short so often. I am in a hurry... or I am trying to hard to make Scripture speak to me. I have got to learn to sit and listen.... to still my mind... to give Him my attention and soak in all He has to show me. Kari Jobe sings an awesome song called The More I Seek You and in it she sings "I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hand, lean back against You and breathe" That line just grabs my heart every time I hear it and I find myself singing it in prayer to the Lord often these days. (If you want to hear this awesome song go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3GijrnfStk )
The question was posed... which woman do you relate to most... Mary or Martha? I have always felt I was a Mary and I think at one time... during a season of my life... I was. But while I am not a perfectionist or a super homemaker or anything like that, I find that I am constantly busy.. even when I am still my brain is running through a list of things I need to do.. so I am definitely relating more with Martha these days. Busyness sees to invade my everything... even my time with God. I just don't seem to be able to let go and really relax... sit at His feet... listen.. BE STILL AND KNOW... the comment was made in this chapter that we will fore go (or postpone) time with God to do the urgent things... we live in a constant state of urgency. But what is more urgent.. more important than time with God? Surely there are times when something needs our immediate attention... like a crying baby or sick child... but often our urgent things aren't really urgent in the grand scheme of things.
Luke 10:40 says "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made..." I personalized this verse.. But Barbara is distracted by all she has to do.. and the thing I realize is I impose the HAS not God.. I decide what HAS to be done. The thing is I know that if I spend time with Him and let go of my have-to-do list, He will make time and a way for me to get done the things that truly do need to be done. I have seen Him do that, but for some reason I seem to have forgotten that He can!
One more thing.. at the end of v. 42 is says "Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her." First... it's a choice whether I spend time with Jesus or not. 2nd.. what intrigues me is the phrase "it will not be taken away"... surely no time spent with Jesus is a waste... no time in the Word or in Prayer is trivial or of no use... but what I wonder is this.... is the reverse true? If Mary's choice will not be taken away from her, will Martha's? Does all the energy and effort of serving come to no true fruition? Surely not all service, but when we serve instead of worshipping... when we choose work over grace.... when we serve because we feel we have to or that no one else will instead of letting some things go and just sitting at His feet and soaking in the time we have with our Savior. I think that time of service ends up being lost to us... we can never get back that moment.. that opportunity to be with Jesus. BUT PTL we are given more chances.. we can stop at any moment and say Lord, Speak to me... and He will. We just have to be available and have an open and expectant heart!
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