Today's Passage - Luke 10:38-42

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 10:38-42   As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.  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, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'   The two sisters represent two types of ministry: Mary represents the inward ministry and Martha represents the outward ministry.  Both ministries are important and precious.  Many have mistakenly believed that Martha's work is not valuable and Mary's ministry is more important, but Jesus didn't say that here; rather, He was simply pointing out the right attitude for serving.  There are indeed many outward ministries that a church needs to engage in, so if everyone becomes like Mary, then who will work on those ministries?  Obviously both inward and outward ministries are important.   We can see two ways to be busy here: One is outward, and the other is inside the heart.  The problem of Martha is not that she's busy with her work, but it's the fact that her heart is restless.  Although Martha was serving the Lord, she was relying on her natural life, so she had to worry about many things.  When we serve God, we need to ask God to help us not to be bogged down by being busy with the outward things, and let our heart be restful so that we'll come before God with the right attitude.   The two sisters also focused on different things: One focused on herself, the other focused on Christ.  Martha only saw herself while serving, so she had a narrow view and felt that she was the only one who was busy.  Aren't we often like that too?  We pity ourselves and feel things are not fair - why am I the only one who's busy?  That's why Martha asked the Lord "don't you care..."  Actually, she's the one who really cared and her heart and mind were bound.  Mary, on the other hand, focused on Christ while serving and her eyes set solely on Jesus, so she was able maintain a peaceful heart before the Lord.   It is not so important whether we are busy on the outside, but we need to examine whether we always have our eyes set on Jesus, so that we won't develop the feeling of self-pity and unfairness by just focusing on ourselves.  Lord reminded Martha not to just be busy, but to know exactly what the Lord wanted her to do through learning to listen.  Let us work together with God and understand His will; not just to be zealous for the Lord, but to collaborate with God.  If you are feeling busy in your ministry, may God remind you to not just have great zeal, but let God teach you how to work with Him.    Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, please you help us to learn from Martha how to examine ourselves.  If we are zealous in serving you, may your Spirit remind us to listen to your voice and learn to work and walk together with you.  Teach us how to stay close to you everyday in our life.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!