October 9, 2017
Just being honest… the Lord works in some pretty weird ways sometimes. Oddly great but still weird. In my life, He taught me a very valuable lesson I still carry with me today and continue to work on through my sleeping. Yes, my sleeping! Two days in a row, I woke up exactly at 10:41. To preface, this is very late and unusual for me. I will always be the first one to offer to get up early and drink excessive amounts of coffee before the sun is up. I love mornings. Anyways, those two days about a year ago, I woke up at the same time unusually late! I felt that God was trying to tell me something. I don’t know how or why, but I could feel it. Some may call it superstition, but I truly believe the Lord does work in mysterious, if not weird, ways. Hey, whatever works! So I looked up 10:41 on Google… the first thing to pop up was Luke 10:41 from the Bible: “‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” A little context… Mary and Martha were the sisters of Lazarus that Jesus later raised from the dead. Yes, Jesus raised a dead man from his tomb as He would also do Himself later on. However, for this specific story, you need to know that Martha and Mary were sisters in a village that Jesus was visiting. He came to visit them! They opened their house and hearts to Him, and He came! Oh gosh, if Jesus was coming to my house, you have no idea what kind of preparation I would do. I would want to make sure my house was spotless, neat, prepared, and perfect, or as close to perfect as it could be. Martha had this same type of thinking as me; I associate much of my characteristics with the likes of hers as well. She was so worried about making everything perfect. I think that I have to have it all together and chase perfection to somehow prove my worth. I can get way too caught up in how the world views me and labels me opposed to how God views me, as “perfectly and wonderfully made.” Jesus calls Martha, and theoretically me, out in the verse. I imagine Martha stopped in her tracks, dumbfounded. I know I would because being called out for my effort is one of my least favorite things, as it probably was hers. Jesus tells her to slow down and think about what was really important. Before I even get to that, let’s discuss the slowing down part. Slowing down for me is REALLY hard to do. If I slow down, I’m being unproductive, right? Jesus says differently. See, He says that when Mary, Martha’s sister, slowed down and really thought about what was important, she found what was vital to her prosperity, her faith in Christ. When we slow down and think, we can finally see what is right in front of us, Jesus. Jesus was visiting with them!!! …And Martha was running around the house making sure everything was perfect. Jesus was present in her village, her home, and she was occupying herself so much that she almost missed it. That is when Jesus tells her to slow down. He is too great, too compassionate to sit by and watch someone miss out on His love and splendor. He says that Mary was the one who found the importance of the situation. Mary had sat at His feet and listened, being purely present and readily soaking in every ounce of Jesus. Jesus said that her eagerness to listen meant exceedingly more to Him than Martha’s busyness. Martha thought she was doing good by trying to be perfect, but she was really hurting herself and her relationship with Christ, as I often tend to do. Martha would have missed out on that sweet, invaluable moment if she had continued doing more and more chores. Jesus faithfully reminds me and you, if you are open to it, to slow down. He shows himself in all different kinds of situations. For some like me, it may be a simple search on Google because you oddly woke up at the exact same minute two days in a row. Not that Jesus causes death by any means, but Jesus may reach you through the passing of a relative that leaves you feeling hopeless. By whatever means He reveals Himself to you, the importance is our response to Him. We can continue to believe in the lie that worldly productivity and efficiency gives us worth. We can continue to find value in aspiring perfection or good deeds. Yet I promise every single time, just as it did for Martha, that “worth” falls short of the riches Jesus crowns us with each day. I constantly have to remind myself of that truth. The eternal and immeasurable gift of true life that comes from the Father exceeds anything of this world, anything of our comprehension. Jesus wants immeasurably more for me and you, but it is our will to stop our worldly pursuits and instead incline our hearts to be present in what God’s will is for our lives.
With love,
C