A 'Mary' Heart In a 'Martha' World

By Gobel Brockman


This is one of my favorite one-liners: "Have you ever noticed that some busy people are never too busy to stop and complain about how busy they are?" I think we're all guilty of that sometimes. And I realize that we are living in a hectic, non-stop, 'get-it-done-yesterday' society. But I've come to the conclusion that one reason we always talk of our 'busyness' is that we simply want others to recognize our efforts.

Jesus encountered this. He once visited the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha. The Bible says that Martha was fretting about all the preparations she was engaged in, while Mary was 'sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to Him.' It goes on to say that this bothered Martha to the point that she came to Jesus and said something to the effect of, "Master, don't you see how busy I am while Mary just sits there? Tell her to get up and help me!"

I've always had this question about this story that the Bible doesn't answer: Did Jesus tell Martha to do the work that she was doing? If the answer is yes, then my thought is that you do what Jesus asks you to do and not worry about what others are doing. If the answer is no, that leads to a question we all need to answer: are we really doing what God wants us to do, or are we wearing ourselves out in 'the work of the Lord' doing things we were never expected to do? It's easy to get busy working in a church, because there is always something that needs done. People to visit. Building maintenance to do. Budgets to keep an eye on. And yes, we are expected to be, as the Bible says, 'about the Father's business'. But Jesus said something to Martha that I think, if we listened, He's probably saying to a lot of us today: "Martha, Martha, you are troubled about many things, but Mary has chosen the good part, and it will not be taken away from her."

Please get that point. Martha was 'working for the Lord' while Mary was 'sitting at the feet of Jesus', and Jesus said that Mary had chosen the good part. Which leads me to a simple point for all of us. Martha was so busy working for God that she couldn't listen to Him. Are we guilty of the same?

Take a few moments and, if you will, 'sit at the feet of Jesus' and ask Him. The answer may surprise you. But it's OK - you deserve a break.

Bring It To Me

By Gobel Brockman 

Most of you know the story: Jesus had been teaching a multitude. The crowd was said to be 'over 5,000 men, besides women and children', meaning there were probably twelve to fifteen thousand people there. When Jesus completed what He had to say, the disciples came to Him and said, "...send them away that they may go and get something to eat." Jesus's reply was interesting: "They don't need to leave, you give them something to eat." I can imagine the looks on their faces. WHAT? We're twelve guys, and you're asking us to feed around twelve thousand?

Have you ever felt that way? That God has asked you to do something that you didn't think was possible? If you've been a Christian very long the answer is yes. I remember back in 1981 when I felt the God was calling me into ministry. I thought it was awesome at first; then I remembered that ministry involves public speaking. Uh-oh. "Houston, we have a problem." Public speaking and I had an agreement: It hated me, and I hated it. Psychologists have said that death is the only thing that people fear more than public speaking. I won't argue against that. And at first it was an issue. My first sermon was seven minutes of me saying "Uhh...". 

But here's the hope. The disciples voiced their inability to carry out the assigned task. Jesus's answer to them was, "What do you have?" They replied that there was a little boy there who had five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus said, "Bring them to me." We know what happened next - a miracle. He did it for me as well. Getting up in front of people is no problem for me now. (Now it's their problem :-}) I told God in prayer, "If this is what you want from me, you're going to have to help." He did.

God is going to ask you to do things that, within yourself, you won't be able to do. Forgive someone that has hurt you. Give money that you think you can't afford to give. Go talk to someone that you'd rather just pray for. But in those times, and there will be many, what Jesus said to those disciples He'll say to us: "What you do have, bring it to Me." 

Then be prepared to be blown away by what God does next.