Distracted

"But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
Luke 10:40

Here we find the story of two sisters, friends of Jesus, who have invited Him over to their house to share a meal and enjoy some time together. I’m sure they wanted to honor Jesus, so there was much to do in preparation for their evening. “You clean there, and I’ll tidy up here. You go shopping for the vegetables while I prepare the meat. You set the table, and I’ll finish up the dessert…” The responsibilities were divided up and work-mode was engaged. The time had finally come, Jesus arrived, and here’s where we pick up the story. Mary chose to pause the preparations and to spend time with Jesus while Martha continued the busy work. This obviously annoyed Martha, feeling like she was doing all the work like a good solider while Mary was just sitting and talking to Jesus, so Martha asked Jesus to scold her sister and send her back to work. 

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

Martha was distracted…distracted by the to-do list and distracted by the responsibilities. Martha was distracted by her emotions, by her frustrations, and by her feelings that things were unfair. Martha was distracted by her sister not following her example and doing what she wanted and what she thought was most important. Now, I don’t think Martha’s heart was bad but it was distracted, and because it was distracted she was about to miss out on the blessing that was before her. Jesus was able to identify the posture of Martha’s heart, and He gently reminded her:

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

APPLICATION:

I wonder how often I get distracted by what I’m doing for God that I completely forget that…I’m doing it for God. It quickly becomes about my responsibilities, my thoughts and my emotions. I wonder how often I get distracted by the work to be done in honor of God that I completely forget to honor Him. I miss His presence, miss the learning and growing, and miss what He is doing. So, too, I wonder how often I get distracted by the daily to-do’s, the challenges at work, and the emotions of the day that I don’t make time…time for my family, for the people around me, and for sitting at God’s feet. I wonder how often I’m more distracted than devoted. May I choose, today, what is better. Yes, the work needs to be done, but my heart needs to be devoted, dedicated, driven by my love for God.