Living Like Mary in a Martha World

I thought about writing this earlier today, but instead I got caught up in organizing my files and spent most of the afternoon on that task. I had come home from an appointment with the plan to sit down and write about this life-giving topic, and yet I fell into the busyness of everyday life. How often do you find this happening to you? 

That's what happened to Martha. She, her sister Mary, and her brother Lazarus were good friends of Jesus in the time of the New Testament (probably between 30 and 36 AD). You can find this story in the Bible, in the gospel of Luke 10:38-42. 

Jesus and his followers had come to the home of these three to visit and have a meal. As the customs of the time required, proper hospitality had to be shown. There was much to be done. But instead of helping with the preparations for their guests, Mary sat down to listen to Jesus. 

As you can imagine, Martha got frustrated and addressed this problem with Jesus.  From Martha's perspective, it was unfair of Mary not to help, so she basically told Jesus what she wanted Him to do.  "Tell her to help me!" Martha said in Luke 10:40. 

She probably didn't expect Jesus to respond the way He did. (Jesus has a way of doing this; that's one of the things I appreciate about Him the most. He wasn't bound by the traditions of the day - either then or now.) Instead of doing what Martha asked, He validated that she was worried and upset. He recognized that she was frustrated, but He let her know that only one thing was needed - spending time with Him. 

Wow. That's so powerful. So much of what we do today in our Christian lives is about what we do. I am now part of a church staff, so I see even more so how important this work is. Yet didn't Jesus also say that we need to abide in Him to bear much fruit? (John 15:4)  How do you abide? What does that even mean? Does that mean we do less? 

Yes and no. The definition of abide is: as in to remain; to continue to be in a place for a significant amount of time. Some of the related words are to stay, wait, hang around, or linger. So basically Jesus was saying that Mary had chosen better by staying and listening to Him.

What Jesus was saying was that this is more important than the busyness of everyday life. In all reality, this should be the foundation for everything else we do in life. I think that's what He was getting at when He said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5. 

So what do we do? Well, here's what I recommend:

1. Be intentional about creating time for God. 

• Hang out with Him, talk with Him, sing to Him - doesn't matter where you are when you do this.
• Read His word; talk about it with Him and chew it over with others. 
• Learn to sit and be quiet. Even for 5 minutes. Try it on your lunch hour. Or even in the bathroom if you're a busy mom. 
• Learn to hear His voice. Ask Him to speak to you and help you hear Him (and be open to this). 
• Spend time with Him wherever you are. Invite Him to join you in what you're doing. 

2. Be intentional about creating margin in each day.  Limit your busyness. 

• Take time off to just be. It's okay - Jesus commands us to.  
• Plan to do less. It's okay if everything doesn't get done today. 
• Don't pack your vacation time to the point where you need a vacation to recover. 
• Choose balance in your work and home life. 

Prioritize your time with Jesus and get to know Him. Fall in love with Him and learn to sit at His feet. From this will flow all that you need to make each day meaningful and put things in their proper perspective. 

Blessings.