12/03/2013 - DISTRACTING SERVICES

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But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

Luke 10:40

It’s amazing to see how the cares of this world draw more attention from us than do spiritual matters. Many, for example, prepare to go to God’s house – they take a shower, put on clean, well-ironed clothes and even wear perfume – but, for the most part, these people are like whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27); On their inside there is so much dirt that they don’t even bother to remove it. What’s worse is that they present themselves in this way before the Most High.

Martha was distracted and overwhelmed with so much serving because she wanted to give a good reception to the Lord of lords, but she did not realize that He should have been received in her heart first. In another passage of the Scriptures, the disciples, overcome with sleep, were neglectful and fell asleep (Matthew 26:40). There are many useless things that take our time and rob us of the pleasure of a real encounter with the Savior. It is necessary that we shape up and come to our senses!

In her distraction with materials things, Martha thought it was more important to feed the Master instead of receiving the real Food that only He can give. In fact, she was wasting time, wasting an opportunity that was more profitable than if she had found the largest vein of gold in the world. Don’t let anything rob you of the communion with the Lord because nothing, absolutely nothing, no matter how profitable, will make up for your loss.

Those who are not in Spirit say things that offend the Almighty. If He leads you to give offerings, you soon find an excuse for not doing so. If He sends you to evangelize, you say you have something more important to do. If you are awoken at dawn to seek the Lord’s face, you mutter a prayer and go back to sleep because the next day you will have to work. If only you had understood, that day could have been filled with solutions because the Lord wanted to visit you precisely for that reason.

Everything that is not of God causes boredom and weariness but we shouldn’t pray for the Father to help us put up with those things; instead, we should seek His will. A Christian should not have to go through any evil in his life because by serving God his work will be done with ease without any nuisance and he will end the day with joy and good mood.

We must never tell the Lord what we want Him to do, but rather draw near Him to understand what He wants us to do. Without removing the stone, no “Lazarus” will rise. Only one thing is needed (Luke 10:42), and that is the good part you have to choose.

In Christ with love,

R. R. Soares