Luke 10:38-42
As they went on their way, Jesus came into a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who was sitting at the Lord’s feet and was listening to his word. But Martha was distracted with all her serving. She came over and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.” The Lord answered and told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is needed. In fact, Mary has chosen that better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Dear Heavenly Father,
We fill our lives with lots of work, busing ourselves with everything we deem essential to sustain ourselves and others; with all this work, we can become distracted with life as Martha was; and fail to see what is vital. When we serve others out of love, this is what we have been called to do; however, when we let resentment, jealousy, or anger cloud our hearts because others are not serving us the way we would like, this becomes the problem. Sin begins in our hearts; we might silently resent others until emotions explode with us saying or doing something because of our sin.
Lord, forgive us when we allow our secret sins to go unchecked and allow evil emotions to result in angry words or actions we do against others. Send your Holy Spirit to be with us so we recognize when sin starts in our hearts and continuously encourage us to be more like Mary, that we sit at our Savior’s feet and listen to your word. In your word, we hear how Jesus suffered and died on that cursed tree for all our sins; he has paid our debt of sin in its entirety; he served us with perfect love.
Through our faith in you, let our reactions be filled with love just as Jesus loved us. Let us love others as Jesus has loved us, granting them forgiveness and serving them when they need someone to care for them. For those who do not know you, let us serve them by sharing your love and forgiveness with them; we pray they, too, will come to know you through your Holy Spirit working in them. Amen
Written through Pastor Roger Emmons
Choose the greater part like Mary; hear and trust God’s word—his love and forgiveness for you. God’s word tells us how Jesus died on the cross to take away all our sins even though we are utterly underserving of his love because of our sins.