But
Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and
said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the
serving alone? Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said
to her,
"Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many
things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part,
which shall not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:40-42)
Remember
Martha? She was so busy with the
secondary things of life that she almost missed a real opportunity. Jesus reminded her that she was distracted;
she had lost the proper focus.
I commend
Martha for her serving heart and I know Jesus did too. But sometimes we serve to the point we forget
why we are serving and the service becomes more important than the ones we are
serving. We develop a distracted or an
unfocused heart. Matthew recounts a time
when Jesus looked down on Jerusalem and was troubled by what He saw. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with
compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having
no shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) Now there is a snapshot of today’s
world is there ever was one...weary and
scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
Jesus referred
Himself as the good shepherd. He is
different from the other shepherds who care only for themselves and not the
sheep. He knows that, left alone, a
sheep will wander into dangerous and even deadly places.
"I am the good shepherd;
the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. "He who is a hired
hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf
coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters
them. "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the
sheep. "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even
as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the
sheep. (John 10:11-15)
The reality
is, our hearts can become distracted with all that the demands on us these
days. It’s not that the distractions of
family, work or social obligations are bad; they just are not the main focus of
what God wants in our lives. What Martha
was doing was good, kind and socially proper; but it was not the time to be
doing it.
Has Satan kept you from the feet of Jesus by
filling your life with distractions? Do
you feel like a sheep without a shepherd?
It is so easy to wander away and lose yourself in the demands of your
personal or vocational world.
Beware! Jesus warned, "The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life,
and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
God desires
that our heart keep its focus on following Jesus.
Scripture to Claim:
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow
Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one
will snatch them out of My hand. (John
10:27-28)
