Daily Devotional

"Sitting at Jesus Feet"

“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.” (Luke 10:38-42 NKJV)

Martha invited Jesus and His disciples to a meal and became distracted by all the preparation.  She wanted to spend time with the Lord, but she had a lot of work to do.  As Martha responded to the stress she felt, her response is often our response to the stress we face.

  • God doesn’t care…“Lord, do You not care…” (Luke 10:40)

Stress can cause us to feel that God has left us alone to work out the issues and problems of our life.  There is the feeling that we are not significant enough for God to notice and He is not concerned about the everyday pressures that affect our lives.
 
  • Others are to blame…“My sister has left me to serve alone…” (Luke 10:40)

Martha looked at the meal preparation needing to be done and began to blame Mary for the stress she was feeling.  If Mary would just get up and help her.  It was her fault that the meal was not ready.

Stress can cause us to rationalize it is not our fault.  Others have let us down.   When the pressures keep coming, and since we are making every effort to keep things under control, stress causes us to think it is actually the fault of other people that things are the way they are.  We can’t be to blame, since we are doing everything…others are not putting nearly the effort into the situation as we are.
 
  • If they would only do it my way…“Tell her to help me.” (Luke 10:40)
           
Martha, in her request for the Lord to tell Mary to get up and help her with the meal, was actually saying, “Lord, tell her to help me now and to do it my way.  Stress causes us to blame others and to want them to do things our way.  

This kind of attitude destroys the creativity of others and causes them not to want to work with us at all.  We think if people would just cooperate, we would not have stress.

Jesus addresses Martha by saying, “Martha you are worried,” your mind is divided and pulled in different directions. You are also “troubled and agitated” because of your sister’s actions.
 
The Lord addressed Martha’s problem.  She had the desire to sit at Jesus’ feet like her sister, but there was a meal to prepare.  The meal had distracted her and caused a division in her mind. She needed to focus on what was important.  There would be other opportunities and meals to prepare, but there were only limited opportunities to sit at Jesus’ feet and to learn from Him.
 
Martha needed to make the right choice.  Her sister Mary had.  Now she was confronted by the Lord with making the right choice that would bring life changing results.  May we as Martha make the right decision to sit at Jesus feet.

Prayer:  “Lord, when I feel the stress of life closing in on me, help me to sit at your feet and focus my mind on You.  I want to know You and walk with You each day.”  Amen
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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