Busy…Busy…Busy – Martha’s Story
We are called to serve. We are called to show compassion and mercy. We are called to use our God-given abilities to worship and glorify God. We are to be hearers and doers.
Martha’s Story
So when Jesus came to visit, you can only imagine how she felt. Martha Stewart had nothing on this Martha!
We also see Martha’s take-charge attitude in John 11 when her brother Lazarus dies. When she hears that their friend, Jesus, is coming, she runs down the road to meet him. She didn’t want to waste any time in telling him that his friend and her brother, Lazarus, wouldn’t be dead if Jesus had gotten there sooner.
What We Can Learn From Martha
Martha and Lazarus had another sister named Mary, who we will talk about later. Martha and Mary were complete opposites when it came to their relationship with Jesus and how they related to him as a friend and Savior. These differences were sometimes very frustrating to Martha; providing us with a few lessons to learn….
Lesson One:
God likes verbs.
We should show hospitality and use our talents, abilities, and resources to help others and to spread the message of the Gospel. God gave us both the ability and command to do so. But we have to be very careful that we don’t let our servant’s heart become a prideful heart. We need to make sure our motives remain true and pure.
Lesson Two:
Arms are as useful as legs, ears, and eyes.
Martha’s love for Jesus was completely sincere and genuine, but like each of us, she sometimes got so caught up in doing that she forgot why she was doing it.
This doesn’t have to happen to you. If you start each day with the prayer to be the hands and feet of Jesus and to put him first in your life, your chances of getting off-course will be greatly reduced
Lesson Three:
Jesus wants to know what’s on your mind.
We’ve talked about this already, but it bears repeating: you can’t hide anything from the Savior, so you shouldn’t even try. Tell him what is on your heart and on your mind. He knows, but he wants to hear it from your lips and when you say it, it becomes even more real to you, too.
To Sum It All Up
Martha was confident enough in her relationship with Jesus that she didn’t hold anything back. She spoke her mind AND listened to what he had to say back. Martha also gave of herself the very best way she knew how.
Talking, listening, obedience, and service don’t get any more real than that.