Am I Keeping the MAIN THING the MAIN THING (Luke 10:38-42) By Roline Thomas
This text shows Mary with the halo, someone ideal; while Martha is someone practical, competent and down-to-earth—someone caught up with work while her sister sits at the Master’s feet. Christians need to cultivate a balanced Martha and Mary spirit.
God is not honored by careless work in ministry or the neglect of necessary duties in life. It is imperative to give your best service to The Master; preparation is necessary in the Kingdom. The issue however, is how much priority do you give to preparation? Elaborate preparation and busyness, as with the case of Martha, takes away time that could have been used to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen.
The work of ministry is important. Martha lost sight of who Jesus was and why He came. She did not keep the Main Thing the Main Thing. Here are a few Questions that you should ask yourself:
1. Are my PRIORITIES in order?
Mary was busy with preparations, and thus became distracted. Distraction is a tool satan uses to draw us away from God.
In order to get our service right, we must first get our priorities right.
Do not get so caught up in the work of the Lord that you forget about the Lord of the work.
2. Have I Placed myself in the right POSITION?
Matthew 4:4 – “……It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Mary sat at Jesus’ feet – This is a picture of discipleship. Mary listened to Jesus teach.
Jesus’ feet symbolizes the source and place of God’s grace. (Remember the sinner woman in Luke 7, sat at Jesus’ feet and wept. Without saying a word to Him, Jesus forgave the woman of her sins).
Mary was sitting – she placed herself in a position to learn.
Mary heard his word – she was receptive to the directives of the Teacher.
In order to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear his voice, you must position yourself close to him.
3. Do I have proper PERSPECTIVE?
Matthew 6:33 – But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Jesus did not say that serving was unimportant but that Martha was overly occupied about many things.
Jesus was teaching Martha a lesson in priorities. We must stay focused on the most important things.
ONE FINAL QUESTION: Will you allow Jesus to minister to you before you go out to minister for Him?
