But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
(Luke 10v40 NIV)
Martha was serving Jesus.
She was busy.
But too busy to listen.
She was busy making sandwiches that Jesus hadn’t ordered.
In her role and function she was being the perfect hostess.
She was doing what seemed was the right thing.
Unfortunately it wasn’t the best thing.
She was missing out because of the cultural expectation placed on her.
There was nothing culturally acceptable with Jesus.
Their culture was in conflict with the culture of Heaven.
She was simply doing what was culturally accepted of her when guests came to someone’s house.
Martha took her responsibilities seriously.
Martha grew more and more frustrated.
Her role overtook her love for Jesus.
She even interrupted Him.
She stopped Mary (and others) from listening to Him.
She was more concerned with this culture than with the kingdom culture.
A question for you: What are you distracted by?
Ask Him is there anything that you are doing for Him that He doesn’t actually want you to do.
Look at what you are involved in.
Make a list if it helps.
Put how much time you give to those things and score their value to the kingdom out of 10.
It is quite possible that the highest scores are the ones you spend the least amount of time on.
Reassess what are your priorities.
Do this regularly, at least once a week.
Don’t waste time on things He has never given you to do.
No matter how much need there is around you.
No matter what people expect of you.
He wants your full attention.
He needs you more than anything else.
