Day 4: Service Vs. Study

"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. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 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 10:38-42

I find that in many churches we have many laborers. We are asked by Jesus to pray for laborers, but not for church service. Jesus says in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." Our prayer should be, that more would go out of the church and into the fields to gather back into the church. We are constantly moving, serving, praying, and hoping for the next big thing for God to do. This is fine, and there is certainly a place for it, but if we look at the account here with Mary and Martha, Martha was worried about the wrong thing when the Lord was before her. Service is great, but so much more important is to sit and listen to Christ.

I find that my kid is like this all too often. She wants her homework to be done, of course, but she wants it to be done quickly and with help. When offering help (at least at the current moment) I can explain until her head pops from so much information, but unless she pays attention and listens first, I'm doing more work than she is. We often put more stress on our walk, and our "labor of love" just simply becomes "labor" when we aren't first listening to Christ. We are so busy serving the Lord that we neglect the Lord.

Christians of any stage suffer with this still. It doesn't matter if you've been a Christian for 2 years or for 30 years, you will somehow find yourself in a state of impulsive work with lack of compassion and care for what you are doing it for. It's just the motion your use to. There's no greater way to honor Christ than to remember who you are working for. Lukewarm Christians are disgusting to God. Revelation 3:16 says "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." How sad that we have become so use to Christian labor that we forget to spend time with the one we claim to be serving.

I will not say that serving is not important, but far more important than serving is sitting and listening. It's the "good part" of our calling, and it's mandatory if you are going to do anything great in the service of the Lord. The greatest gift to be given is your faith in the Lord, more than your service. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrews 11:6