Service

So this morning in my worship service the passage from Luke 10 about Mary and Martha was the text preached on. Listening to this text talked about and the implications of Martha's heart issue compared to Mary's got me thinking. I also talked about, in my Adult Bible class, what a real relationship with God looks like rather than just a life of belief. I dove into the fact that God, or Jesus, should be our great treasure, most prized relationship, and ultimately where the source of great pleasure and joy in life stems from. I think Mary understood this because in the verse in Luke 10, she just sat at Jesus feet and basked in His glory and the pleasure of His presence.

So what was wrong with Martha's heart and her issue. I do not believe she was sinning but she was rather serving out of the wrong motive and heart. Martha's relationship with Jesus in this story was about the service not the pleasure of the relationship. And I find that is where I am a lot of the time. Do I teach in Sunday School because I find pleasure in enjoying God or because I am doing His service? Do I tell others about My Jesus and what He can do because I find joy in that relationship that I cannot contain or because I find it a duty? I truly believe that the relationship with Jesus should stem everything else. My relationship with Jesus, the pleasure, joy, and excitement that this brings should stem the service. This was Martha's issue. After Jesus was done teaching, I can imagine that Mary would then love Jesus and enjoy Him by helping serve Him with her sister. But in the moment the more important task was enjoying the relationship with Jesus. The relationship should drive the service. That is the heart issue, service being driven by pleasure in the relationship rather than service out of duty. Next time I find my service for God to be draining or frustrating, I should check my relationship with God and see if that needs fixed first. When my service becomes anxious and stressful, I should check my pleasure and joy in God. My service should be like Mary, driven by my love and pleasure in God, not the reversal of serving to find love and pleasure. Thanks to Mary and Martha I need to find what is important before I begin my service.