DUTY OR DEVOTION?
“But Martha was distracted with much serving…” (Luke 10:40)
What do your outward actions say about you? Do they say that you are serving the Lord out of a genuine love for Him? Martha allowed her sense of duty to get in the way of her devotion to the Lord. We know this because Jesus had to remind her that her sister Mary had chosen the good part, which was a quiet sense of devotion and worship.
There is a time for work and there is a time for worship. I am not attempting to minimize the importance of work. The Apostle James said, “…I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). He also said, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (v.26).
Martha’s problem was not laziness. Her life did not have a shortage of activity. Like many Christians of today she was extremely busy. Her problem was that she was too busy. She was so involved in working to serve Jesus, she forgot to stop and worship Him.
Mary’s life was marked by adoration. Martha’s life was one of frustration. What set these two sisters apart? Their focus!
Martha’s preoccupation with service led to frustration. Do you frequently feel disturbed? Do you find yourself complaining about others and comparing what you are doing to what they are doing? Are you easily worried or agitated? Do you serve Christ out of necessity rather than devotion? If you answered yes to these questions you need to pause and ask the Lord to stir the fires of your devotion to Him.
Mary knew the value of true devotion and worship. Worship should always precede work. Our work should be the overflow of our worship. Or focus should be on being not on doing. What we do for Jesus should emerge out of who we are in Jesus.
I have heard Dr. Stephen Olford say many times, “God is more concerned with who you are than what you do; and if you are does not please Him, then what you do is virtually useless.”
Make devotion to Jesus a priority in your life. Dr. Roger D. Willmore will be speaking at America’s Keswick July 31- August 5, 2011
Compass Pointers: Man’s practices are the best indexes of his principles. Stephen Charnock
Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 13:14; Level 2: Proverbs 13:20-25
Anchored to the Rock: When a man is on his knees before God, that he is – and nothing more. Robert Murray M’Cheyne
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