But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. –Luke 10:40
Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honour. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him. –John 12:2
At Church service yesterday, the band lead a worship song that was so powerful that almost everyone in the Church was either in tears, on their knees or in some other posture of worship; the presence of the Lord definitely filled the room. This went on for about ten minutes. During this time of worship, there was a particular gentleman that kept on walking around, trying to get a headcount and organize some of the chairs that had been moved around. As I continued in worship, I could not help but think about Martha as the man walked around.
In the two verses above, the Lord was at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus on two separate occasions. In the first, passage, Martha was making all the preparations, while her sister Mary just sat at Jesus’ feet, soaking up every word He spoke. When Martha complained that Mary was not helping, Jesus responded saying, “You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” I believe that Jesus was saying to her, Martha just stop for a second and bask in my presence. I am not going to be around for much longer, so just take a break and enjoy this moment with me while I am here.
Jesus made another visit to the home of Martha and her siblings, and again, everyone was reclining at the table with Jesus while Martha was again making preparations and serving the food. She obviously hadn’t begun to practice what Jesus told her during His last visit. While Lazarus was sitting and listening and Martha was running around and serving, Mary took a jar of expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. This act of devotion was costly, humble and generous. Mary loved Jesus with all her heart, and whenever He was around, everything in her whole world stopped, and it became all about Him. People objected to her actions, saying that they could sell the expensive perfume and give the money to the poor, but Jesus said, Leave her alone…You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.
Today message is not to say that Martha was wrong or the Mary was perfect, it is just to remind us of the last part of Jesus’ words in the previous paragraph; “you will not always have Me.” We are not always going to feel the presence of the Lord, and we are not always going to have moments in worship where we are just so overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit, so it is important that we make those moments count. This is not to say that the Lord is not present because we do not feel Him, but I will be the first to admit that when I do not feel His presence, although I know that He is there, it is just not the same. But when the Lord gives us the opportunity to feel His presence, it is important that we cherish those moments and let everything else just wait while we bask in that moment and like Mary, lavish our love on Him.
We will always have the poor, and disorganized chairs, and different ministries to tend to, but every now and then, it is important that we just sit with Him, listen, and just spend uninterrupted intimate time with Him. For those who are married, imagine that while spending an intimate moment with your spouse, all s/he does is talk about how dirty the house is or how much work needs to be done or what is going on with the children, etc. Sort of kills the mood, right? So I ask you today dear friends, when was the last time you spent an uninterrupted intimate moment with the Lord? When was the last time that everything else in your world stopped so that you could truly be alone with the Lord, not distracted by what you need to do for Him, but just enjoying His presence as you lavished your love on Him in personal/intimate worship?
Grace and peace be with you.
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