Tuesday, February 17,
2015, 4:46 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Broken & Contrite.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I
read Luke 10:38-42 (NASB).
Now
as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha
welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the
Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her
preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my
sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But
the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and
bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has
chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
Troubled and
Distracted
Martha invited Jesus into her home. Her sister Mary sat at
Jesus’ feet listening to his word while Martha was busy in the kitchen making
meal preparations. Martha’s attention was focused on what she felt needed to be
done in order to minister to Jesus’ needs while Mary was focused on Jesus and
on listening to his words. So, was Martha wrong in what she did? Should Mary
have been out in the kitchen helping her? In all practicality, we do have to
eat, so someone has to prepare the food, is this not true? People have to earn
a living, pay bills, clean house, cook meals, wash dishes, do laundry, grocery
shop, go to school and take care of kids, etc. We can’t all just sit at Jesus’
feet all day long reading his word, can we? So, what are we to take away from
this story? What is the lesson that is to be learned here?
Several scenarios come to mind. The first one is that many
people, myself included, may, at times, get so busy doing for God that they
fail to seek God’s face to find out what he desires and to do what he wants.
They get so bogged down with the details and all the preparations that they
miss out on what is most important – time spent with Jesus just listening to
what he says and enjoying the fellowship with him and personal time of worship
of him. The things they are doing for God may, in fact, be good things, but
they are not what is God’s best for them. It is not the best use of their time.
Yet, some people may prefer to live this way because they are the ones in
control, and they are the ones who determine what they will do or won’t do for
God, whereas those who listen to Jesus’ words and do what he tells them are
those who have found what is best – to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
So, what kinds of things distract us and get us troubled
about thinking they are necessary when they are not, or that actually pull us
away from doing what is God’s best for us? I can think of some of the things
that might be distractions for me, at times, and you may identify with some of
them. We live in a technological society here in America. I have a smart phone,
a tablet and a laptop computer. I am on Facebook because that is where I
connect with family and friends and it is a place of ministry for me, too. I
have chat, email and responses to posts which I check daily. I play only one
on-line game, which is Words with Friends, but that can be time consuming, as
well. I have had to turn off most all my notifications of incoming email,
chats, and responses to posts, etc. because that is a distraction. Sometimes I get
bogged down with aesthetics (visual appearance and beauty), which is also time
consuming, and is not really important in light of eternity.
I believe this last one is a huge problem for the modern
church of today. Many churches spend so much time on the show, outward
appearance, and on doing what will attract the world to their churches and to
their meetings that nearly everything is orchestrated and planned out by humans
so that there is no room for the Holy Spirit to do his work. Ouch!
At the Feet of Jesus
Mary found what was best. She sat at Jesus’ feet listening
to his words. So, in all practicality, how can this be applied to our lives? As
stated above, we can’t spend every day, all day long, sitting at Jesus’ feet
listening to his words, or can we? What does it really mean to sit at his feet
and to listen to him speak? I think some people get the idea that this is a
formal time of Bible study, prayer and personal worship which they must
schedule each day and then that is it for the remainder of the day, and so then
they just go about their business as usual. Is that really how it is supposed
to be?
The Lord Jesus just reminded me of Isaiah 58. The people of
God seemed eager to know God’s ways. They asked God for just decisions. They
fasted in order to be heard by God. Yet, on the day of their fasting they did
as they pleased, and they did wicked things. So, God asked of them, “Is this
the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it
only a day for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and
ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?” He said
they sought him out, as though they were a nation that does what is right and
has not forsaken the commands of its God, yet they could not continue to do
this and expect God to hear their prayers. They went through a religious
ritual, but their hearts were far from God. They thought they could just “do”
for God and that he would be pleased, but what he wanted was their obedience,
i.e. their hearts fully devoted to him.
The same principle applies to our lives and to our
relationships with Jesus Christ. He doesn’t want us to just spend a short
period of time at his feet each day in a time we call “devotions,” and then go
about our day with little to no thought of him at all, doing what we want
without regard for what he wants. Time at Jesus’ feet does not need to begin
and end with a specified period of time which we call our “devotions.” We
should be “on call” with Jesus 24/7. We should be listening to him all the time
throughout our day no matter what we are doing. If his word is hidden in our
hearts and not just in our minds, and if we are sensitive to his voice, and we
are desirous to hear him speak and to do what he says, he will speak to us all
throughout the day and even into the night at various times. He often speaks to
me through scripture songs while I am cleaning house or doing laundry or
whatever. I just need to be receptive to his voice and to learn what he wants
to teach me and then to be ready and willing to obey him. I need to not “do”
for God what I think is a good thing to do, but I need to find out what pleases
him and then do it.
One Thing is
Necessary
“Martha,
Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing
is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away
from her.”
We read in Romans 12:1-2 concerning the type of sacrifice
which is acceptable to God. We are to give our lives (our whole being) to God,
holy and pleasing to him. This is our reasonable service of worship of God. So,
what does it mean to be holy? It means to be different from (unlike) the world
because we are like Christ. It means to be set apart from the world and to be
set apart to God and to his service. We are to no longer be conformed to the
ways of this sinful world, but we are to be transformed of the Spirit of God in
the renewing of our minds so that we can discern what God’s will is – his good,
pleasing and perfect will. And, we are to find out what pleases him and to do
it. He is not interested in all the things we want to do for him. He wants our
obedience and our surrender to his will for our lives. We can’t live like the
world and live holy lives pleasing to God. They don’t mix.
So, this song provides a prayer we might pray to God in
repentance over the knowledge and conviction of heart that we have, in some way
or another, been guilty of “doing” for God instead of listening to hear what he
wants, and then doing that. It may also be in response to the conviction of the
Holy Spirit concerning all the distractions in our lives which keep us from sitting
at Jesus’ feet, listening to him speak, and then doing what he shows us. It
might be, as well, that we are guilty of spending too much time on aesthetics,
thinking that is important, when the Lord Jesus has better things for us to do
with that time that would be for his kingdom work. The part of this song which
stood out to me this morning was “Lord, cleanse my heart of all that hinders my
walk with you, now I pray.” I don’t want to be wasting time on doing even good
stuff if it is not what is God’s best for me. I need to be more sensitive to
the voice of the Holy Spirit and to inquiring of my Lord as to what is next for
me rather than me determining how I should spend that time.
Broken and Contrite / An Original Work /
May 13, 2012
I
come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With
humble heart and crushed in spirit.
I
bow before You, I implore You,
Heal
my broken heart, I pray.
Love
You, Jesus, Lord, my master,
You
are the King of my heart.
Lord,
purify my heart within me;
Sanctify
me, whole within.
Oh,
Lord, I long to obey fully
The
words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.
I
pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength
and wisdom to obey.
Father
God, my heart’s desire,
Won’t
You set my heart on fire?
Lord,
cleanse my heart of all that hinders
My
walk with You, now I pray.
Oh,
Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My
heart cries out for understanding.
I
want to follow You in all ways,
Never
straying from Your truth.
Holy
Spirit, come in power,
Fill
me with Your love today.
Lord,
mold and make me;
Your
hands formed me;
Live
Your life through me, I pray.
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