Wednesday; May 30

Have you noticed how easy it is to condemn Jesus’ friend Martha?  The story of Jesus and Martha comes from Luke’s description of an interaction in which Jesus was visiting His friends and Martha was busying herself with entertaining.  When she felt like she was having to carry too much of the load, she asked Jesus to tell her sister, Mary, to help out with the chores.  Rather than criticizing Mary, Jesus chided Martha by saying, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many thing; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”. (Luke 10:41-42)  Often we deride Martha for working in the presence of Jesus, but I am not sure that this is the whole story.  It doesn’t seem that Jesus is criticizing workers, rather He is challenging her to think about what is most important at the time.  Mary wasn’t elevated because she was doing nothing – she was applauded because she was doing the most important thing.  Sweeping the floors and washing the dishes could wait until the Son of God was gone.
What are our priorities?  There are a lot of things competing for our attention and many of them have some sort of value, but what is the most important that THAT time?  Sure, doing the dishes is important, but is it more important than reading a Bible story to our children at bedtime?  Yes, we have been told to work to take care of the needs of our family, but is working extra overtime to retire a debt early more important than spending time with our families? 
Let’s be good stewards of the time we have been given.  There are noble things and there are the noblest of things – which are we pursuing?
Think About It!

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