Serve or be served?

Luke 10:41
But the Lord replied to her by saying, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things;”

I’m tired of hearing sermons that have three points, four basics, or five solutions to effective parenting, relationships, or plain old Christian living. God gave Ten Commandments and we couldn’t live up to that standard. Yet, somewhere along the way, we decided to add to those Ten Commandments our own additional commandments. No, we don’t call them commandments; we call them principles or basic truths, but they are essentially commandments.

Look at the story of Martha and Mary. Both of these women were obviously believers in Jesus. Both were what we, today, would call Christians. They knew Christ; they knew His works. We are the same. Yet, one was focused on working for Jesus while the other was focused on Jesus working for her.

Perhaps this sounds a little backwards, but as Christians, we are to allow Jesus to work for us. He’s our Servant King. Mary wasn’t placing herself in a greater position than Christ by sitting at His feet and taking from Him. No, in truth, she was exalting Him by recognizing her need for His presence in her life. The more He gave her from His wisdom and His knowledge, the stronger she became.

Martha, on the other hand, was a hard-working Christian. She believed that it was her duty to serve Christ, even though He came to serve her (Matthew 20:28). Instead of simply receiving what Jesus came to give her, His abundance, she felt the need to give Him something to earn His favor. She was going through the steps of Christian living like so many do today instead of choosing the One Good Thing: Christ.

While Mary sat and received blessings from Christ, Martha served. When Martha saw Mary receiving and not serving, she was mad. But Jesus, being gracious even in His rebuke, named Martha’s problem. It wasn’t that she was mad at Mary for not helping. Martha was anxious and troubled; she hadn’t yet realized that Jesus was there to take her burdens away.

Christian, if you are anxious and troubled about many things, know that Jesus doesn’t want you working to please Him; He doesn’t want you working to fix what He’s already restored. Furthermore, He knows that it is your anxiety and worry that is the root of many other relationship or family issues. Those five steps to a peaceful relationship, the three rules for successful parenting, are fuel for your troubles.

Today, TAKE the One Good Thing. Rest at the feet of Jesus and receive His blessings. Allow Him to fix what you can’t. Let the anxiety and the trouble of trying to live right, trying to be good, trying to do what is acceptable go to the cross. The Son of man came so that you can have life in abundance, not so that you can worry about how you’re going to earn life in abundance. When His grace takes hold of your life your worries will disappear. The relationships will be effortlessly restored and you will have the Peace that surpasses all understanding.