This morning at church, my pastor spoke about a topic I didn’t expect to resonate so deeply.
He started by reading Jeremiah 29:11-13.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
If I’m being honest, my mind immediately went to “I hope he doesn’t try to do a feel-good sermon about these verses and take them out of context.”
Let me share a little tidbit about my pastor. He doesn’t sugarcoat or take things out of context. This was no different.
He spent the next forty-five minutes sharing about the importance of keeping God first and leaving the distractions behind to follow God with your whole heart.
His whole sermon was God-breathed and spoke to me, especially because, if I am being honest, I was a bit distracted by an argument my husband and I had before church.
Our pastor ended the sermon by speaking about the story of Mary and Martha, and I heard it completely differently today. It was as if God was lovingly and painfully calling me out.
Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
For the first time, I saw myself in Martha in a way I hadn’t before and felt the weight of it all. I’ve identified with Martha’s busyness in the past, but I always justified it because I was “doing for God.” This time was different.
This verse hit me differently this time for two reasons:
1. Martha invited Jesus into her home.
2. Then she became distracted and worried about many things.
Wow! Jesus was invited, and then the distractions and worries of life took over. That is totally my story!
The last several months, God has been stripping away various things in my life that have been keeping me from being who God is calling me to be. I have enjoyed this pruning and slower season; however, somewhere along the way I assumed that if I stopped doing so much, I would automatically become more present with God.
Now that almost all those excuses I had for “I’m too busy to get close to God” are gone, I’m discovering that my empty calendar doesn’t necessarily mean I’m undistracted inside my heart.
Since 2020, I have listened to podcast after podcast and watched YouTube channel after YouTube channel about how to live for God, live a healthier/crunchier lifestyle, raise your kids in the ways of the Lord, discern false doctrines and teachers, and learn more about the charismatic movement.
I have been preoccupied with other spiritual things that aren’t inherently wrong, but they have kept me from hearing from God and caused me to miss the whole point: connecting with Him and sitting at His feet like Mary.
Now I find myself complaining to God about it like it’s his fault.
He has been gracious, though, and is not done working on me.
I left service with a mixture of annoyance because I wasn’t quite over the argument with my husband (which was ironically about this very subject of my legalistic and fearful mindset), and I was also feeling overwhelmed by my desire to go deeper with God but unable to detach my brain from all the white noise inside it from all the content/ opinions I have absorbed in my life.
If you are feeling distracted in your relationship with God, or if my reading of Mary and Martha’s story resonated with and convicted you, you are not alone.
Let’s come alongside each other to support one another.
Maybe the answer to your current struggle isn’t another podcast telling you how to seek God better.
Maybe it isn’t another YouTube video, book, teacher, or opinion.
Maybe, like me, you need to turn down the noise and do what Mary did.
Sit at Jesus’ feet and listen.
Today, let’s choose the better thing and come back to our first love, Jesus Christ.
Are you a Mary or a Martha?
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