Why do we value our time so preciously? It’s an intriguing question with which we all should try to come to terms. In answering the question, we should evaluate the most relevant word.
Many would say the word “time” is the most relevant or most important word in the question. However, I say, the word “our” is the most important, yet subtle word in that questions. If you think about it a second, we don’t even question that our time belongs to us.
But, does it really?
With that kind of introduction, it begs the question of what we are supposed to do in life. If you ask parents, they’ll have one kind of answer. If you ask friends, they’ll have another kind of answer. If you ask Christ, He’ll have the definitive answer.
How many of you have ever heard of the saying “Idle hands are the devil’s plaything”? Some people even believe it is Scripture. Although this saying is not Scriptural, there are passages that teach about the dangers of idleness. But, today we often take the wisdom and twist it to serve our own desires. By that I mean we have allowed our culture to drive us to think that busyness is virtuous and that we’re behind if we’re not at least as busy as our neighbors.
We somehow have placed a sense of worthiness on how busy we are. Have you ever been engaged in a conversation and you both seem to be rattling off a list of things you have to be doing for that day or that week? It’s almost as if we’re trying to out-do the other person or evoke some degree of sympathy from them.
Why do we do this? I catch myself doing this all the time. Brothers and sisters, I can’t overemphasize how detrimental our crowded lives are to our relationship with God. The evil one knows that if we’re busy with the activities of a secular life, we are not about the business of our heavenly Father. To me, it’s clear that the busyness of life is a lie of Satan.
Our Lord didn’t intend us to have the activities of life clutter our relationship with Him. I think He makes that perfectly clear in our passage for this lesson. Let’s all turn to Luke 10:38-42.
“Now as they were traveling along, He entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who moreover was listening to the Lord’s word, seated at His feet. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him, and said, ’Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me?’ But the Lord answered and said to her, ’Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
There are some important context words in the passage. Let’s address them quickly so we can see deeper into what’s going on in the scene.
The “they” in this scene is Christ, the disciples, others following Christ shortly after the 70 returned from their missionary journey. It could have been a handful, could have been many.
The word “welcomed” carries with it more than just a greeting in this culture. If you welcomed someone into your home, you provided for their comfort and honored them. Often this included a meal or even lodging. We see in the passage that Martha was busy with the many tasks that came along with providing comfort and probably a meal for at least a handful of men, but possibly more.
The word “moreover” as used in this case can easily be replaced with the word “instead”. So we can read it as… “she had a sister called Mary, who instead was listening to the Lord’s word…”
After reading that, and getting a sense of the context, we need to stop and really examine what Christ was teaching by His response to Martha. Let’s look at His response. He tells Martha that there is only one thing necessary in life. And, from the passage, it seems that Mary has figured out what that is. What is the good part?
Rather than just come out and tell Martha what is important, I believe that Christ wants Martha to see what it is by Mary’s example, and what was going on at the time. What was Mary doing? She was sitting attentively at the feet of Christ listening to His teaching. How do we know that listening to the Lord is eternal? The passage says “…which shall not be taken away from her.”
From this passage we can see that we’re to occupy our lives with content that has eternal value and not what we’ve convinced ourselves to be necessary for a quality life.
The good part to which Christ was referring was Mary’s careful attention to the Lord. Stop and think about that for just a minute. I submit that we can learn a lot about our walk with God by this simple short phrase. Mary was at the Lord’s feet and carefully listening to Him teach and edify those around Him in the house. She stopped all things in her life to listen to God.
We don’t have Christ incarnate with us today, but we have Christ with us nonetheless; just as powerful, just as profound, who deeply wants a totally committed relationship with each of us. We also have the guidance and care of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the amazing Word of God we can pour over for eternity and not exhaust its meanings.
Because we have all these, we can listen to Christ just as easily as Mary did. We can listen to His word everyday if we’re not too busy about our secular lives to hear Him speak to us just as Martha was.
Every child in America has learned that, to save our lives when we may be on fire, you must stop, drop and roll. I tell you today that you can keep yourself from much pain if you stop…drop…and listen to God and what He’s trying to communicate to you.
From a worldly perspective, what would have happened if Martha would have done the same thing that her sister did? Martha could have chosen to not worry about feeding the visitors. Some may have even thought badly about her not following custom by welcoming her guests. You can imagine what would have been Christ’s reaction to those who looked down on her.
What does stop…drop…and listen look like in our lives? I strongly believe that we’ve cluttered our lives with secular things that we feel are important. But, I ask you to take an eternal view of your busy life. What in our lives can be taken away and what cannot be taken away? What do we fill our lives with that will last forever?
We can find many places in the Bible that help us understand eternal preoccupations. Look at 1Corinthians 3:10-15.
“According to the Grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.”
The six elemental things to which Paul refers here are metaphors for the things in life that are eternal and the things that will pass away and have no value. Through this illustration, we must examine our lives to see if we’ve filled our lives with the things that will pass away or the things that will last forever.
After we truthfully examine our lives, we can’t stop there. We must take the next step to determine how we’ll remove those things in life that are not necessary and replace them with eternal activities. Replacing those things that are wood and hay with the things that are gold and silver. These last things are actually purified by fire and the imperfections melt away. The purifying fire are the trials and persecutions that God allows in our life as a result of being His child.
But, many cry out that they are overwhelmed by the things that they really have to do. By no means am I advocating that Christians abandon responsibilities. I know we have earthly responsibilities, but is everything in your life a responsibility? I suggest that we have many things in our lives that are not critical. Each believer has to assess their lives and be honest with themselves as to the quantity of their lives that is devoted to eternal activities.
Many people say that humans need diversions to live a healthy balanced life. I think we’ve deluded ourselves to believe this because we haven’t fully experienced the true joy of a close walk with God. We are created to worship God and enjoy ourselves in that relationship. This relationship is what fulfills us, this relationship is what brings us joy. There’s nothing like experiencing the joy from replacing secular activities with spiritual ones. It’s a life of blessings and joy. That’s the true balance—-we are just plain happy people if we listen to the Lord’s words.
This leads us to the logical question, one that Martha quite possibly would have asked. What are those eternal things?
Let’s try to answer that question. But, first I want to say that our salvation is eternal. Christ will never leave us or forsake us. We can trust in His sacrifice and atonement for our sins if we confess our sins to Him and truly repent.
But, more to Christ’s point to Martha, we can practice spiritual disciplines. These are activities with which we need to fill our lives. These are the “good part” that Christ was talking about.
There’s also service that is eternal. At the moment of salvation, we were given at least one spiritual gift. We are to use that gift to glorify God and edify the church. We may not have paid attention to our spiritual gifts and neglected them. However, using them for God’s kingdom is eternal. Using them is part of God’s will for our lives.
God also gives people talents that can be used to glorify Him and benefit His church. When used for God, our talents can be an eternal activity.
As I’ve repeated many times when we talk, we are created for a pleasurable relationship with the Creator. We are put here for our 70-80 years of existence for God’s own purposes and good pleasure. We’re not here for our own good pleasure, our friends’ pleasure, our girlfriend’s pleasure or our parents’ good pleasure.
How we please God is by being obedient to His will. We can find out what His will is for our lives by renewing our minds and no longer being conformed to worldly ways. And also by being still and listening to that “still, small voice” when God is talking to us.
Because we are sinners, we often make mistakes. Many times we don’t listen to God and His word and we fight. Often, we don’t want to wrest ourselves out of our secular lives. We think that worldly things are fun and we don’t want to deal with the pain that removing ourselves from secular living can cause.
But, I tell you from experience that God will burden our hearts with the changes He wants us to make. And once made, I tell you life will be more fun, happier, more joyful, more fulfilling, more rewarding, and it “shall not be taken away from” us for all eternity.
Let’s bow.
