Change Of Focus

Title: Change of Focus

Text: Luke 10:38-42

Date: 5/11/08

Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist church

Introduction: Change! We’ve been hearing that word quite a bit lately? Barak Obama has made change the major theme of his Presidential campaign. He wants to change the way our Government operates. Change is something that happens regardless of whether we want it to or not.

I want you to think about all of the changes that have taken place during the last 100 years. In the early 1900’s over 50 percent of the people in America were involved in Agriculture. Today less than 2 percent of the population is involved in farming.

In 1900 there were no computers, cell phones, I-pod’s or even televisions. There were no “Fast-Food Restaurants. There were no Theme Parks like Disney World or Six Flags. There were no CD’s, DVD’s, cassettes, or even records.

There were very few cars, and only the richest people in town had them. Even though the Wright Brothers had invented the Airplane in 1903 the skies certainly weren’t filled with them. Open Heart Surgery, Laser surgery and organ transplants were unimaginable.

Those are some pretty dramatic changes that have taken place during the last 100 or so years. But there is another change that has also had a dramatic impact on families and family life. At the turn of the century it was almost unheard of for married women to work outside the home. Today, according to an article in the New York Times, 75 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 54 are either working or looking for a job outside the home.

Unfortunately in our day and time it takes two incomes to be able to make ends meet. Not only are women expected to fry the bacon, but most of us expect them to help bring it home as well. Consequently women, especially mothers are burning the candle at both ends. They are trying their best to balance their careers and their responsibilities at home. They want to be good wives and mothers but they also want to be the best employees that they can possibly be. That’s not very easy to do and unfortunately instead of getting help and encouragement from the church, too often we have ridiculed and criticized them for it.

I don’t want to do that this morning. Instead I simply want to encourage you and offer a suggestion or two that might change your life and the lives of your children.

There are only 24 hours in a day and with so many demands on them many women are being forced to cut corners or do away with things entirely just so they can get some sleep at night.

The problem with this is that area that most often gets cut or overlooked is the spiritual. Many women, (and men as well) fail to take time to spend with God during the day. Usually we try to justify this by saying that God knows how busy we are and that He will understand.

What most people don’t realize when they do this is that they are cheating themselves out of being able to live the full and abundant life that Jesus talked about. You see when we focus on the material and neglect the spiritual aspects of our lives we are destined to be unfilled and unhappy.

Despite all of the changes that have taken place during the last 100 years, one thing that hasn’t changed is the influence that mothers have on their children.

One woman once said, “Whenever I held my newborn son in my arms I used to think what I did and what I said to him would have an influence, not only on him, but on everyone he meets, not for a day, or a year, but for all time and for eternity.” I believe she was right. The woman who said that was Rose Kennedy, and the son she was talking about was named John Fitzgerald Kennedy who grew up to become the 35th President of the United States.

So this morning I want us to look at a passage of Scripture that I believe will be helpful not only to the mothers who are here, but to all of us. Turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10:38-42.

I realize that this passage of Scripture doesn’t mention anything about Mary or Martha being mothers. But that’s not what I want us to focus on this morning.

What we do know about them is that they lived in a small village not far from Jerusalem called Bethany.

Like all of us, though Martha and Mary faced decisions on a daily basis. On this particular day Jesus tried to help them see that the decisions they made had eternal consequences. You see He loved both of these women and their brother Lazarus. In fact they were some of his very best friends.