Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
Luke 10:38-42
In this Scripture, we find that Jesus had visited the home of two ladies we know to be dear friends to Him during His time on earth: Mary and Martha. They readily received Him. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and gave Him her full attention. Martha, on the other hand, was so busy serving that she missed this precious time with the Savior. How often do we find ourselves in the same situation as Martha? We gladly accept Jesus into our lives and seek to please Him. We frequently try to do this through our actions. We fill our lives with “good things.” Sometimes these good things may even entail our ministry for Him. But we must be careful not to miss Him in the process. Service done without the Spirit is of ourselves and therefore not worthy of the Savior anyway.
Martha gets frustrated that her sister neglected to help her with the work. She even went to the Lord in exasperation and questioned how He wasn’t bothered by her sister's actions. “Why isn’t Jesus calling her to help in this work?” she thought. How often do we get frustrated when we feel we are running ourselves dry and constantly adding, while others seem to still have space on their plates? We may even start to feel ill-spirited towards them. Perhaps, others aren’t saying no because they are too busy but rather because they don’t want to become too busy.
Jesus gently opens Martha’s eyes to the truth. She had gotten so caught up in the details that she was missing the big picture. Mary, on the other hand, was in tune with the Savior. We must be careful not to fill our plate so full of good things that we miss the best thing. We must prioritize our time with the Savior above all else, lest it all be in vain.