Time Spent

4-15-16

Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.

Bible Verse of the Day: Luke 10:41-42 "Martha, Martha the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed only one thing. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."


The story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42 is a fascinating illustration of how easily we get things out of order in our relationship with Jesus. Jesus was coming to visit Martha's home, quite an honor. Martha was probably stressed beyond belief trying to get everything prepared. What would she make for dinner for the King of Kings? She had to get her house in order, clean up and get herself dressed for the occasion. She was probably frantic with excitement and stressed to her max. Her sister Mary on the other hand was focused on simply being in the presence of the Lord as he entered the house. She had no agenda but to sit by the Lord's side and listen and learn from him. She was not distracted by anything or anyone, but she cast all her cares aside to simply be in his glorious presence. Martha was mad and said to Jesus Why don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me! (Luke10:40) Jesus's reply in Luke 10:41-42 must have stung. Martha, you are missing the whole point. While what you are doing is good, what Mary is doing is even better and will not be taken from her.

Martha was most likely distraught and thought to herself what are you talking about Jesus? I am over hearing preparing everything and my sister is not helping at all. She was missing the whole point. Spending time with Jesus was the most important thing Martha could have done, and Jesus pointed this out to her that Mary had chosen what was best. So this begs the question, am I more likely to be Martha or Mary in this story? If I am being honest, I am often distracted by doing things that I feel are good and necessary, but sometimes at the expense of doing what is truly needed, which is just spending time alone in the presence of my Lord and Savior and letting him speak to me and teach me.

Jesus is teaching all of us not to prioritize anything over spending time with him. It should be our first priority every day when we wake up and when we go to bed. But we get distracted so easily in this age of instantaneous dissemination of information. We are more apt to turn to our mobile device for an answer we seek than to spend time in the Lord's presence. In the Lord's presence we find things that no electronic device can give us. That is where we find grace, healing, strength, forgiveness, wisdom, patience, suffering, redemption and deep peace and contentment. So why don't we turn to Him more often? The virtuous circle that ensues when we seek and discipline ourselves to spend time in His presence should be the carrot that leads us to choosing Him over any other activity, as Mary did to the consternation of Martha.


What distractions do we allow to hinder our alone time with Jesus? Well for me, the list includes things such as sports, news, popularity, other's opinions, worries, money, distracted thoughts and feelings, impatience and lack of discipline. I am sure there are others, but that is a pretty good start right there. If you could sum these up in one word it would be distractions. But also in the culture we live in today, the word is busyness. The enemy uses busyness, in conjunction with our pride, to keep us from spending alone time with our Savior. The enemy fears the transformation that occurs in this intimate relationship where the power of the Holy Spirit can be unleashed to speak clearly into the minds and hearts of believers more than anything. Intimate prayer is something he has no answer for, so his goal is to deceive, distract and destroy us.Through our pride that what we, like Martha, are doing what is good. Through our busyness that we are distracted. Finally, through our lack of time spent learning wisdom from Jesus we are vulnerable enough to be destroyed. This is the subtle plan of a cunning and viscous enemy who whether we acknowledge it or not, seeks to destroy us.

So the anecdote for the enemy's plan is simply to have the discipline and courage to spend time in prayer and intimacy in Jesus's presence. That is where we are safest and where we feel the power of His Holy Spirit in our lives. Much like Mary, we must de-clutter and rid our mind of distractions. We must decompress, find space, create time and prioritize Him as our top priority. Temptation, greed, pride, self-importance, power, supremacy, covetousness will be used by the enemy to distract us. Our free time should he filled with him, not useless garbage on the internet, our trying to feel good about ourselves by having lots of likes on Facebook. 

It takes discipline and time spent to get the huge benefits that come when we, like Mary, prioritize just spending alone time in His presence. He restores our souls, helps us see areas in our lives in need of repentance, which leads to greater freedom, let's  his light and love shine through us, and gives us new perspective and strength to continue our journey's. So while what Martha was doing was good, what Mary was doing, was far better. The choice is ours to be more like Mary than Martha with every decision we make on how to spend out time. We can spend our time on tasks, like Martha, that seem important to us, or we can invest our time like Mary, at the Lord's feet, learning all wisdom that will guide our paths into eternity.