At His Feet
My biggest appreciation in this journey with God is the privilege of being in relationship with Him. It still amazes me that the God of everything, wants relationship with me, us, His creation. That He actually delights in being apart of every area of our lives, leading us and being with us. So many times in scripture, we see God affirming His presence with us. We also see Him refer to us as friends, sons, daughters, and even His bride. On the contrary, we as believers sometimes forget about the privilege of relationship and find ourselves operating in the obligation of religious duties instead. We go from delighting in Him and His word to then feeling the pressures of “doing”. But the fact of the matter is that we were created as human BEINGS, not human DOINGS. And while nothing is wrong with serving for the Lord, we must examine whether our duties are distracting us from adoring Him. The last thing we want is for our relationship to grow stale with The Lord or for our perspective of Him to go from Father & Friend to probation officer or a big, scary God Who makes us earn his love.
I am so grateful that God took into consideration our humanness and our tendency to overcomplicate things, that He provided countless scriptures to realign us back to the heart of relationship. Serving is great. Attending church service & reading the Bible is fantastic. Being involved in different groups of ministry is awesome. But there is one thing. A good thing. Not the only thing but the main thing. And that is sitting at the feet of Jesus.
We see it in the account of the sisters, Martha and Mary. Luke 10:38-42 says,
38Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
39And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
40But 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.”
41And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
42But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
I love this passage of scripture because Jesus directly tells us what is good and what is [most] important. But I also love that He so lovingly corrects Martha while still defending Mary. He did not condemn Martha for wanting to serve Him rather He calmed her anxieties and redirected her in her place of ignorance. See, it wasn’t a bad thing that Martha was a hardworking woman, who seemingly tried to provide a comfortable, hospitable environment for Jesus - I mean He was God in the flesh. But while she was trying to provide, her Provider, the Prince of Peace, was in her midst. It was Martha’s efforts that distracted her from enjoying His presence. So much that Jesus considered her “worried and troubled” in verse 41. All the while, Mary was soaking up His presence, sitting at Jesus’s feet, listening intently & hanging on to every life-giving word that came from His mouth. Mary made the most of her moments with the Son of God.
The place of adoration that Mary was in, is such a beautiful place to be!! I know it personally. Those moments where you just sit with Jesus, talking with Him, listening for His voice, consumed with reading His Word and letting worship music play in the background while tears of gratitude flow from your eyes. Ahh so amazing. BUT, on the contrary, I’ve also been like Martha. Working so hard to “do” for God -going to church services, reading, serving in ministry, doing all the things only to end up “troubled”. Why? Because when we attempt to “do” so much that we forget that His presence is the gift, it is exhausting. Let’s not forget the times when our motives were driven by fear, guilt, trying to earn God’s love or win His approval.
We’ve all been there. But being driven by these motives are like chasing the wind. He already loves us and our salvation nor forgiveness can be earned. And because of His grace, we don’t have to work our way into His presence but we can be like Mary, enjoying His company first and foremost.
Sitting at the feet of God reflects a posture of humility and interest. In Jesus’s day, students would sit at the feet of the teacher. Even in our modern day, we see this with children who sit at their teacher’s feet for story time. The beauty in this is that we should ALWAYS be like children before the Lord -no matter our age or how spiritually mature we are. In fact, we are His little children. Mary paints a clear picture of the posture towards God that we should never grow out of. I often pray for God to never let me think I’ve arrived or that I have it all figured out while I am on this journey. I want to constantly be getting to know Him and I want the same for every believer.
Even still, I can completely understand Martha. She wanted to honor Jesus, especially since He was her guest. In this journey, there will be times when we have to put in the work BUT, let’s not allow it distract and overwhelm us as it did Martha. Lets instead, rely on His presence, power and strength to be our source for the work. Jesus is the ultimate Provider. There is nothing we can provide for Him, apart from Him. I believe that Mary sitting at Jesus’s feet, listening to His words of wisdom, equipped her in a way where she could work for God’s glory without being burnt out. Her being with Jesus would enable her to effectively “do”. And the same applies to us. Jesus wants to transform and equip us while spending quality time with us. And that doesn’t have to look one way. He invites us to find our own creative, personal ways to enjoy intentional time with Him. Whether it be journaling, walks with God, watching a sermon, coffee while reading the word and jotting down questions for God, or just simply sitting in silence. However this may look for you, I challenge you to deliberately BE with God this week and may He affirm to us, what He spoke of Mary. That we have “chosen what is good and it shall not be taken away from us.”
Let’s Pray:
Heavenly Father, thank You for enlightening us through Your Word. I am so glad I serve a God Who delights in me. Even in all of my flaws, Lord You still give us the privilege of Your presence. Sometimes that concept can be hard to grasp so please affirm me when I need it most. I ask that in my ignorance, You’d lovingly correct me like You did Martha. And in my well doing, would You encourage me so that I could stay persistent. Forgive me for the times when I have operated out of religious duties. For the times when my heart was not truly in it. Forgive me for the times I’ve attempted to do anything apart from You and for ever thinking that I could earn Your love. I repent. Help me to rest in Your grace, love & mercy. Ignite in me a heart that desires You above all else. I want to intimately know You all the days of my life so keep me from being too proud to seek You. I pray for Your peace to fall on every area of my life -especially where there’s been agitation, worry, and burnout. Thank You Jesus, that Your Presence is the gift! I love You.
In Jesus’s name, amen.
