MEET MARY AND MARTHA
Luke10:41-42
Meet two sisters from Bethany who were good friends of Jesus. Martha was the worried worker, “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made” (10:40a). She accused Jesus saying, “Lord don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.” (10:40b). Jesus responded to Martha’s complaint by pointing out her state: “You are worried about many things” (v.41).
In contrast to Martha, the other sister Mary was a worthy worshipper. She “sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what He said” (10:39). This showed her willingness to learn and her availability to let Jesus’ Words determine her life. She humbly sought to be spiritually fed and nourished by Jesus. Thus, Jesus commended Mary stating, “Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Worship of God generates His nod of approval. However, work for God that takes focus away from enjoying God leads to worry. It is not that working for God is to be discouraged, nor is worship of God the only act to be encouraged. Our worship of God must lead to becoming a worker of God. But we must guard against worry. We must wise up by replacing worry with worship.
Meditation:
How balanced are our worship of and work for God? Does overflowing worship lead us to abound in worry-free work? Or is there an imbalance of the two somewhere? If there is, let’s return to the basic of worship that makes us wise to work for God.
Prayer:
Our Lord, when there are times we act and react like a Martha, please remind us to listen and live like a Mary.
