Have a seat....

Lately God has been challenging me concerning the "Mary vs Martha Syndrome"

We read in the Bible a story of two sisters, Mary and Martha. Luke 10: 38-42 "Now while they were on their way, it occurred that Jesus entered a certain village, and a woman named Martha received and welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister named Mary, who seated herself at the Lord's feet and was listening to His teaching. But Martha [overly occupied and too busy] was distracted with much serving; and she came up to Him and said, Lord, is it nothing to You that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me [to lend a hand and do her part along with me]But the Lord replied to her by saying, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; There is need of only one or but a few things. Mary has chosen the good portion that which is to her advantage], which shall not be taken away from her.

So often we suffer from the "Martha" Syndrome, spending so much time and energy being busy and fussing with the little things in life when Jesus wants nothing more than for us to be like Mary instead, not consuming ourselves by actions but instead just sitting at the feet of Jesus in total adoration for Him. As I find myself staring at the clock through blurry tired eyes at 2 a.m. I realize once again I had managed to stay up way too late doing way too much. Just yesterday I had confessed my need and encouraged others need to transform from being stuck in the "Martha" Syndrome when God wants us to live in a Mary world, I had managed to find task after task to keep me busy instead of just sitting and being still for a few hours. Even though what I was doing was serving the Lord its still not what the Lord wants my focus to be on. Its great to serve the Lord but if we are constantly caught up in doing then how can we learn and be fed spiritually so we can grow more in Christ so that our actions will be spirit led? This is exactly what I had done, I was too busy and allowed myself to get caught up doing and spent too little time quieting my heart and really worshiping and listening to His voice. I'm not saying the Lord was displeased with my efforts but I think because of busyness so often we miss out on what God wants to say to us in the midst of them. God is tugging for our undivided attention each day free from running errands, the kids activities, cleaning, cooking and the list could go on and on. Obviously we cant just cut all those things out of our schedule but instead of penciling Him in on whats left in our planner we need to find a spot first for Him to sit and spend some uninterrupted time devoted to Him just like we do with our other commitments then fill the rest of our schedules up with the other stuff.  God wants nothing more than for us to pull up a chair next to Him and just sit reading in His word or being quiet and listening to what He wants to say to our hearts. But so often instead of pulling up a comfy chair to sink down into and stay awhile we pull up this:

 

It may be called a chair but can we really sit unreserved and relax?? I wonder how many of us sit in chairs like this. We are trying to be Mary and sit at Jesus feet but yet we choose a chair that is missing an arm, a leg...pretty much half the chair so that we still can keep a little control on not fully letting go and relaxing. To sit in this chair you would have to consciously hold half your weight up only one arm and one leg could fully rest and the remaining part of your body would take energy and focus to hold up. This isn't what Jesus is asking of us. He doesn't want our half hearted efforts to sit with Him but have only half our focus on Him alone, while the other half is still in control and focused on something else. Jesus wants us to plop down into a big cushy chair facing forward focused solely on Him so that we can understand what it means to really adore and worship Him with our thoughts, and our time. Its a sacrifice to say that you are not only going to sit and be still with Him but that you are going to throw out the broken chair and give all your worries and control regardless of whats going on in your life and you will give Him your undivided attention. So relax and pull up a chair, a real chair and spend some time with Him.