“Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.” (Luke 10:38-39)
Our church was in revival this week and we had an amazing young preacher preaching. His messages asked us to sit at the feet of Jesus. At first I was skeptical as he preached, asking us to not be so caught up in doing things for the Lord and just sit at Jesus’ feet, but he didn’t end there. Cameron and I agree that doing (as in the case of Martha) can often distract us from more important things. Mary didn’t help her sister because she wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear “his word”. The distraction of cooking and serving with her sister Martha would have stripped a blessing from Mary. Mary would be deprived of listening to the word of God spoken by Jesus – God the Son. “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42) As we strive to be doers of the word, the doing can sometimes become a distraction.
As Cameron preached, and I whole heartedly agree, we need to take the time to slow down and develop our relationship with Jesus. We need to hear His words and speak to Him in prayer. We need to relish and nurture our relationship with Jesus as we would any relationship that really matters to us. We need to sit at the feet of Jesus and know that God is God, develop that personal relationship with Jesus and carry Him with us as the Holy Spirit of God throughout our lives. So how do we do it? How do we develop our personal relationship with him? First, we slow down and listen to God by reading and meditating on His word revealed to us in the Bible. Second, we pray earnestly and fervently. We talk to Jesus through an active prayer life, and we remain open to His reply through the leadership of His Holy Spirit. We’ve all heard that old adage “Stop and smell the Roses.” Well, stop and smell the Rose of Sharon - Jesus.
We need to frequently stop and just sit and listen to our precious Lord, taking time to develop a personal relationship with our sovereign Lord and Friend.