Devoted Or Distracted?

Isn’t that where we get into trouble at times? Not in choosing good over evil, but in choosing good vs. best? A while back, my supervisor gave all of us chaplains a book entitled, “Good or God.” The premise of the book is that so many of us are filling our schedule with good things, but we may be missing God through it all. We may be missing out on God’s best for us in that moment.

So what about Mary and Martha? Each one of us has a choice. Will we worry about many things? Will we drag many things around with us each day? Or will we choose to focus on one thing first and foremost? Will we choose to sit at Jesus’ feet and let Jesus help us with our priorities for the day?

Apparently Martha learned a valuable lesson that day. She learned to make Jesus her first priority. Because later, when her own brother Lazarus died, she told Jesus she believed he was the Messiah, the Son of God, who could raise her brother back to life if he so chose (John 11:27).

In one of my past churches there was a person who was always wanting to do, do, do for the Lord. I like busy people, because that’s who you turn to when you want to get things done. But something seemed out of balance in Pam’s life. She seemed almost frantic about pursuing activity. I remember gently challenging her over time to focus on her relationship with Christ, and to let that move her into whatever new ministry pursuit came. But it always seemed to be her own generation of ideas that fueled her. One day she had a stroke. And she was unable to talk for nearly a year. I don’t believe that God causes illness; it’s a byproduct of our sin and the fallen human condition. But I do believe that God can use illness for his glory. I’m convinced that God allowed that stroke to slow her down to the point of learning to be more dependent upon him.

What about us? We all have a little of Pam in us, don’t we? We are Americans. We pull ourselves up by the bootstrap and get the work done. And for most of us, we come from military roots where initiative and hard work is rewarded and even expected. Yet, what if the best thing to do sometimes is to do nothing, and simply check in with our commander-in-chief, to spend time in the general’s or admiral’s hut, to seek out the commander’s intent? As Henry Blackaby put it, we are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS. Sometimes perhaps we just need to be. “Be still and know that I am God.” Help us to be still, God, and to listen for your small voice. Let us pray.

Father, you know there is more of Martha’s busyness in us than we care to admit. We respect her ability to get things done, to take care of the little tasks, to shun laziness and idleness. Yet, sometimes we forget about the main thing that consumed Mary. Sometimes, we just need to spend time at Jesus’ feet, listening, learning, soaking in love and admiration and orienting our life to his teachings and purpose. Help us to put you first, God. Help us to find our own version of quiet time with you each day, to recharge our batteries, to orient our life to your plans, to see the world as you see it, to love as you love, to forgive as you forgive, to join your plans for this world and so complete our lives. In Jesus we pray, amen.