March 14th, 2022
Written by Brandy Wallis
Spring is such a wonderful time of the year. Winter has passed and life begins again. Flowers start blooming, trees start budding, animals begin to scurry about the landscape, the days become longer, and all of life seems to become more active. Oh, and let us not forget the mentioning of the greatest sport kicking off…baseball! Something about warmth and light that brings about a sense of life in us. That’s a blog for another day.
With all the majesty of spring, sometimes if we are not careful, we can get caught in the trap of busyness. Running here and there, to and from meetings, deadlines quickly approaching, added responsibilities and errands, and so much more. So many things to do and so little time. All of these things are necessary and important! But as believers, we have to guard against a spirit of busyness that can sometimes disguise itself as looking like good works. Standing back from afar, all of the hustle and bustle looks like we are moving in the right direction; however, upon a closer examination we find ourselves exhausted, frustrated, and wondering what the purpose in our journey was to begin with! Does this sound familiar?
Well do not be discouraged…you are not the only one. You know, some of my favorite people in the Bible who struggled with these same issues happen to be Mary and Martha. Let’s pick up with one of their stories in Luke 10:38-42:
“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ’Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’”
I know, I know, some of you just read that story again because we have all felt at one point or another the same way Martha felt in the scriptural text. Some of us may feel this way more often than others! I mean at first glance, it’s obvious who we think is trying the hardest, working the longest, and going out of her way to please everyone, right? Martha was trying so hard to take care of all the things and make sure everything was picture perfect but instead all she was really doing was creating an opportunity for bitterness to creep in because the effort of others (in this case Mary) did not seem to match her energy and effort. What was Jesus’ response not only to her attitude but her interpretation of who must love Him more? In essence, Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen what is wise and acceptable in His presence. Wow…can you imagine hearing Jesus tell you that a slow-paced life with plenty of opportunity to focus on Him is better than a million works a day? Don’t get me wrong, faith without works is dead (James 2:26) and as believers we should serve in our local church, our community, and our families. But let us not replace intimate time with Jesus with busybodiness. We were never designed to be separate from our creator and that lifeline in the first place. Do you remember, in Exodus, what Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, told him when he was trying to do everything for the Israelites after they had been delivered from Egypt? “Moses' father-in-law said to him, ‘What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone’” (Exodus 18:17-18).
Busyness gives the enemy a foothold into our lives where he then begins to plant seeds of doubt and frustration that spill into every other avenue of our lives.
How would things in our lives change, if we chose to be more like Mary? Now obviously, there are responsibilities and work that simply must get done. What if we, like Mary, decided that today Jesus was all we were concentrating on? What if our worship matched that of Mary, without allowing our Martha-ness to distract us? What if we were better at slowing down, not overwhelming our schedules, and prioritizing time with Jesus above everything else in our lives? Now is the perfect time to remind yourself, during this season of life, to give yourself a little more grace, a lot more forgiveness, and room to sit at the feet of our Jesus and just be drawn into Him!
Spring is such a wonderful time of the year. Winter has passed and life begins again. Flowers start blooming, trees start budding, animals begin to scurry about the landscape, the days become longer, and all of life seems to become more active. Oh, and let us not forget the mentioning of the greatest sport kicking off…baseball! Something about warmth and light that brings about a sense of life in us. That’s a blog for another day.
With all the majesty of spring, sometimes if we are not careful, we can get caught in the trap of busyness. Running here and there, to and from meetings, deadlines quickly approaching, added responsibilities and errands, and so much more. So many things to do and so little time. All of these things are necessary and important! But as believers, we have to guard against a spirit of busyness that can sometimes disguise itself as looking like good works. Standing back from afar, all of the hustle and bustle looks like we are moving in the right direction; however, upon a closer examination we find ourselves exhausted, frustrated, and wondering what the purpose in our journey was to begin with! Does this sound familiar?
Well do not be discouraged…you are not the only one. You know, some of my favorite people in the Bible who struggled with these same issues happen to be Mary and Martha. Let’s pick up with one of their stories in Luke 10:38-42:
“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ’Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’”
I know, I know, some of you just read that story again because we have all felt at one point or another the same way Martha felt in the scriptural text. Some of us may feel this way more often than others! I mean at first glance, it’s obvious who we think is trying the hardest, working the longest, and going out of her way to please everyone, right? Martha was trying so hard to take care of all the things and make sure everything was picture perfect but instead all she was really doing was creating an opportunity for bitterness to creep in because the effort of others (in this case Mary) did not seem to match her energy and effort. What was Jesus’ response not only to her attitude but her interpretation of who must love Him more? In essence, Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen what is wise and acceptable in His presence. Wow…can you imagine hearing Jesus tell you that a slow-paced life with plenty of opportunity to focus on Him is better than a million works a day? Don’t get me wrong, faith without works is dead (James 2:26) and as believers we should serve in our local church, our community, and our families. But let us not replace intimate time with Jesus with busybodiness. We were never designed to be separate from our creator and that lifeline in the first place. Do you remember, in Exodus, what Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, told him when he was trying to do everything for the Israelites after they had been delivered from Egypt? “Moses' father-in-law said to him, ‘What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone’” (Exodus 18:17-18).
Busyness gives the enemy a foothold into our lives where he then begins to plant seeds of doubt and frustration that spill into every other avenue of our lives.
How would things in our lives change, if we chose to be more like Mary? Now obviously, there are responsibilities and work that simply must get done. What if we, like Mary, decided that today Jesus was all we were concentrating on? What if our worship matched that of Mary, without allowing our Martha-ness to distract us? What if we were better at slowing down, not overwhelming our schedules, and prioritizing time with Jesus above everything else in our lives? Now is the perfect time to remind yourself, during this season of life, to give yourself a little more grace, a lot more forgiveness, and room to sit at the feet of our Jesus and just be drawn into Him!
1 Comment
This is just what I needed these blogs podcast etc y’all that work behind the scenes 👏. We the Church the body of Christ helps us to stay grounded ❤️🙌🏻