Day 12

“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

I often find that it’s easy to stay busy with the cares of this world rather than take a quiet moment to hear from God. There are so many distractions and endless lists of to-dos in our lives today, that unless we make a point to shut them out, we will continuously be bombarded. Notice that in this passage, Jesus was staying at Martha’s house, not Mary’s. Not only was Mary also a guest in her sister’s home, but she wasn’t helping to host this more important guest: Jesus. The amplified version says in verse 40, “But Martha [overly occupied and too busy] was distracted with much.” Martha was clearly overwhelmed with the task of hosting Jesus and His disciples, but all Mary wanted to do was sit at the feet of Jesus and listen. Have you ever read this portion of scripture and asked yourself where you would be if you were at Martha’s house that day? Would you be helping to ease Martha’s stress and help her do the dishes, or would you be at the feet of Jesus soaking up every word He said? For some, a to-do list is hard to resist. Checking off things on a list and getting caught up doesn’t sound like a bad thing at all. However, it’s when we allow the to-dos to get in the way of taking time to hear from God that it becomes a problem. In the end, Jesus explains to Martha that her sister has chosen to do what is better. Sitting at His feet is where He wants us to be. Not only taking time in the morning and giving God the first fruits on our day, but living our lives with a heart attitude of always being open to hear from the Holy Spirit.

Keeping our thoughts close to Him and our ears inclined to His voice, always filtering out the distraction and cares of this world so that we can be open to hear what He wants to say to us, that’s where He wants us to be.

Confession for today: “Lord God, forgive me for allowing myself to become distracted with the cares of this world. I want to hear Your voice more and be open to Your Holy Spirit’s instruction as I go through my day. I need Your help to filter out the clutter in my mind so that I can focus more on You throughout my day. Lord, thank you for giving me Your Holy Spirit who speaks to me and gives me clarity to understand Your instructions. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Let your light shine,

Bre