Ellie shares her thought for the week; having a Mary heart in a Martha world.

You might be a little bit like me and love a to-do list. I’ve always got one on the go. I’m always ticking things off as to what work I need to do or maybe what food I need to buy for the weekly shop. And if you are like me then sometimes I add a little something extra onto my list just to tick it off to make it feel like I’ve already done it!

I wonder though if we can let our to-do lists sometimes take over our lives. Our lives can be so busy and we’re trying to achieve it all. You might be like me and find it a little bit difficult to say no to some things.

I was really reminded recently of a story in the Bible, it’s a familiar Bible story in Luke 10 and it’s about Lazarus’s two sisters Mary and Martha and when Jesus came to visit them. Mary just sat and listened at Jesus’ feet whilst Martha cleaned the kitchen.

I hate cleaning the kitchen, worst job! But whilst Martha was very hospitable, she opened up her home to Jesus and she made him food and she was kind. She also let her to-do list get the better of her and let it distract her from Jesus who was sat right there in front of her. At the end of the chapter, Jesus tells Martha that she only needed one thing: to have a relationship with him and be with him. Luke 10 verse 42 says

Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.

Luke 10:42

And so yes whilst Martha strived to honour the Lord with her actions it was actually at the expense of spending time in Jesus’s presence. Meanwhile, Mary sat and listened. Whilst both are the women they wanted to honour, serve and love Jesus in the end it was Martha who was distracted by her to-do list.

We can so easily be caught up with all the things that we’ve got to do and rather than the person that we’re doing it for, we’re doing it for Jesus. Martha lost the reason as to why she was serving. And how often I wonder do we forget to spend time with the Lord because of our to-do list because we didn’t have enough time, because we were so busy from the moment that we woke up to the moment that we went to sleep. We can’t let our plans distract us from our purpose.

And so church I want to encourage you let’s have a merry heart in a Martha world. Have a really great week.

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.