While they were traveling, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand." The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one this is necessary. Mary has made the right choice and it will not be taken from her." [Luke 10:38-42]
Let me start by saying I think Martha really loved Jesus. I also think Martha's love language might have been serving. She opened her home to Jesus and I am pretty sure Martha was the kind of cook that cooked with a heart full of love. Yet, on this festive day Martha got distracted. Preparing the meal required work and a great deal of it. I am confident she wanted to give Jesus her best. As she scurried about working and laboring for Jesus she missed the whole point. She did not take the time to enjoy His presence.
I know many followers of Jesus who are busy serving Him but not taking the time to enjoy Him. It is easy to do. You get involved in many projects and tasks but the heart is not warmed with new affections for the very Lord you are serving. It is easy to become distracted. Even as I write this I have the potential distractions of starting a church, publishing my next book, raising money for the hospital in Honduras, writing this blog, writing my next book, and message preparation all on my mind. These things I am doing for Him can never substitute for my taking the time to enjoy just being with Him.
Mary did not get distracted or upset. Martha should have used the time Jesus came to her house to eat as worship. While she prepared a feast for the Lord she should have also taken the time of enjoying the feast of His presence in her home. Preparing the meal should have been an act of adoration. Instead she resented the very service she offered Jesus in feeding Him. She became not only distracted but upset with her sister, who sat at the feet of Jesus clinging to every thing He said.
Mary did two things I think we all need to do daily. First, she sat at the feet of Jesus. She gave Him her undivided attention. She contented herself to enjoy His presence. Nothing held greater interest for her. Do we content ourselves to sit at the feet of Jesus. I cannot get past the word sit. Far too many do not make time for sitting with the Lord. I just released a book titled "Sitting With the Savior." The whole book was written out of my quiet times with the Lord in my secret place. That is how this article came into being this morning. Jesus taught us, "But when you pray, go into your private room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." [Matt 6:6] Sitting with the Lord in secret must become our habit if we hope to make the best choice with our days.
I got up and sat in my recliner this morning. This is the secret place where I sit at the feet of Jesus. I pulled my Bible off the lamp stand and opened to the book of Luke and began reading where I left off yesterday. As I read I yearned for Jesus to speak to me. I had no agenda. I just wanted to sit with Him and to enjoy time with Him without any distractions. At this hour it is quiet. The sun will not rise for some time. Brenda and the boys are still enjoying the last moments of a sound night of sleep. It is just the Lord and me and I love it that way. As the Lord has been doing for years He awakened me and summoned me to come sit with Him. Nothing I do this whole day is more important that my sitting with Him.
Many complain they do not have time to sit with Jesus. They have busy lives with family, work, school, and extra curricular activities. These same people have little passion for God and the affections in their hearts have cooled. I am not saying they do not love God for they do. But they do not love like Jesus desires. Jesus called us to love Him supremely in [Luke 10:27] "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
This kind love and devotion for the Lord is not born out of fly by quiet times where we glance at Him and His word. This kind of affection for Jesus only comes from long sustained seasons of sitting at His feet. This is another form of worship. While I see people get so excited about corporate worship I wonder how many are equally as excited about private worship seated at the feet of Jesus. I love corporate worship. I love expressing my adoration for my King. To be honest, I prefer to sit at the feet of Jesus alone though. After years of preaching and teaching in all sorts of venues I have discovered I do not have to have a worship band, worship leader and throngs of people for me to enjoy Jesus. When I look back over the last decade of my life most of the significant encounters I have had with the Lord have come in my personal and private devotions while seated at His feet.
The second thing we can learn from Mary, is her desire to listen to what Jesus said. Do you long to listen to Him? Do you sit at the feet of Jesus and hang onto every word He speaks. I have made it no secret over the years that I think Jesus speaks to us primarily from His word. He has been using the scripture to speak to me. In fact, this is the third day in a row God has used His word to speak something very specific to me. Out of the overflow of those experiences I have written about what the He has shown me.
Like the Psalmist our daily prayer should be "Open my eyes that I behold wonderful things from your law" [Ps 119:18] Do you read your Bibles. Do you read your Bible as a worshipper sitting at the feet of Jesus assiduously hanging onto His every word?
I am amazed in this modern church age with all we have to help enhance our relationship with the Lord how few people really cultivate times of sitting with and listening to Him habitually. It is tragic. This is the right choice. It is the best part of the day. This has to be the first choice. We must determine that other things will get pushed to the back burner but time MUST be made to sit and listen.
Those two simple disciplines, if taken seriously, would revolutionize many lives and the church at large. If we sat with the Lord and listened to Him in our private lives our corporate worship would take on added significance and importance. We would enjoy Him more and yearn for more of Him.
I am grateful for my time with the Lord this morning and for the joy of sharing the overflow of that experience with you. O, brothers and sisters, sit at the feet of Jesus and listen arduously. Let the affections in your heart warm increasingly until you boil over with love and zeal for your God. Love Him first and love Him most. Do not let anything distract you from sitting at His feet and listening.
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