From Martha to Mary

I am a Martha. I have spent my whole life worrying. Worrying about my grades. Worrying about how things will work themselves out. Worrying about my safety. Worrying that I'll end up alone for the rest of my life. Worrying that I'm not good enough for others. Worrying that my life is wasting away. Worrying that God couldn't possibly use me for anything worthy of His holy and perfect will. Martha was this person too. She worried about the little details. She worried about serving Christ from a human perspective.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“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.” (Luke 10:38-42)

The first time I read this passage, I didn't think much of it. In fact, I didn't really understand what Jesus was getting at. In my mind, Martha had done nothing wrong. She was serving Christ through her hospitality, making sure everything was perfect and set for His stay at her home. I was confused by the word "distracted" thrown into this passage. Martha wasn't distracted, she was just busy preparing for the Lord! I would have been upset too if I was doing all the work and my sister was just sitting there doing nothing.

But as the Lord has been rebuilding my heart this summer, my perspective on this passage has dramatically changed. As I mentioned in my post, "In Pursuit of the One I Love," the Lord has been showing me this summer the importance of spending quality alone time with Him every day. Since this has become a habit to me, I now realize that when I go a day or more without it, my soul craves to be nearer to Him. I don't feel right, and all my paths are led astray (the opposite of what Psalm 3:6 calls me to do!). I make more sinful mistakes, I am more edgy, I am less likely to be kind to those I don't feel deserve it, I lose my patience with my summer campers, etc. Now, when I have gone a day or more without truly spending time with my Creator, it becomes extremely clear what a difference it makes in my life when I purposely set spending time with God as my priority each and every day. When I first made the conscious decision to do this, Mary's actions (or lack of in Martha's eyes) made complete sense to me for the first time.

Here's the other thing: at first when reading this passage, I didn't feel like Martha was really worried or upset as Jesus claimed her to be. She just seemed to want to serve Him in the best way she knew how. But that's exactly what I think Jesus was trying to teach her: Martha would not please Christ by serving Him through her human perspective of being hospitable, but rather through sitting quietly at His feet, willing to listen to the Truth He had to share with her and her sister. He wanted her to focus on spending quality time with Him, setting her eyes on Him, rather than trying to earn His love through her actions. God loves His creation. It doesn't matter what we do or how badly we sin, He still loves us. It's in His very nature (now, that doesn't mean that He won't turn away from us if we turn away from Him, but it does mean that His love for us does not depend on our own actions to try to make Him love us...thank goodness!). Mary recognized this. She knew there was nothing she could do to make Jesus love her more or love her less; however, she did know that she would best please Him by sitting humbly at His feet, giving Him her absolute full attention for the short time He stayed with them.

The Lord is slowly changing my heart from a Martha to a Mary. Though I still struggle not to busy myself in trying to gain His affection, He is being patient with me and showing me what it really means to simply love Him and give Him my full attention. When I do spend this quality time with Him, my actions are actually led by Him, making them more fruitful and edifying than if I had just tried to do them on my own accord.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will lead your paths straight. (Psalm 3:6)

Praise God!