38 Now while they were on their way, it occurred that Jesus entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha received and welcomed Him into her house.
39 And she had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His teaching.
40 But
Martha [overly occupied and too busy] was distracted with much serving;
and she came up to Him and said, Lord, is it nothing to You that my
sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me [to lend a
hand and do her part along with me]!
41 But the Lord replied to her by saying, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;
42 There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the good portion [that which is to her advantage], which shall not be taken away from her. - Luke 10
Most of us, if we will be honest, find this same tension that Mary and Martha experienced within our own lives. It can come from external pressure to be "doing" more or from our internal voice. Some find immeasurable joy in doing. Some find immeasurable peace in being. Some days the "Be-ers and the Do-ers" are constantly at odds with each other.
As I pondered this today, in the midst of trying to find balance, I came to some conclusions in prayer.
The Worshiper is working their soul's salvation out. The Worker is worshiping God through the act of service. The challenge then becomes finding out what frequency God wants us on at any given moment.
We all have a degree of Mary and Martha on the inside of us:
For some it is 99% Mary/1% Martha
50% Mary/50% Martha
25%Mary/75% Martha
75% Mary/25% Martha
And I realize depending on the season of life, this could change. So, I asked the Lord, what is the real problem? The answer? The problem is when we work without a worship compass or when we worship without a work ethic.
Our worship and our work should both bring glory to God.
I've learned that just because a person isn't spending their time the way you are or the way you think they should, does not mean they are wasting time. If they are doing or rather BEING with Jesus DOING what he told them to do (march, rest, stand, run, walk, sit still) their time is not wasted.
Rather than running around busy today, take some time to BE WITH GOD. Your DOING will have three things:
1- A Sharper Focus
2- A Pointed Direction
3- An Eternal Purpose
In the presence of God, we find direction for all of our DOING. We find out how to DO things more effectively. How to manage what we are DOING and prioritize what we are DOING. We also find out WHO to delegate to and WHAT responsibilities can be given to someone else.
It's not a great feeling to get before GOD overwhelmed and exhausted, only to hear his still small voice say, "Daughter you were DOing too much."
Let's be the Outrageous Church that spends time BEING conformed to the image of the Son, Jesus Christ. As we conform, we will find our DOING creating a lasting impact for the Kingdom of God.
