Spiritual Snack for the Day ~ The Church Body of Muchness & Manyness

"Our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry and crowds.
If he can keep us engaged in "muchness" and "manyness," he will
rest satisfied."
-- Richard J. Foster--

I love this, as it reminds me of the story of Martha & Mary in the Bible. Many times, we, as Christians running here, there, & everywhere, to all our church meetings & activities that we find so absolutely necessary...are simply acting synonymously with the same ills that befall secular work-a-holics. And yet are we not to be set apart from the world...a people distinguishable as doing all things differently? Yet if the enemy can rob us of that one-on-one time with our Lord; rob us of our one-on-one time with our spouse & children; rob us of our one-on-one time with His voice...to where we cannot truly know what He wants us to do with His precious gift of our time (& yes time IS a precious gift!)...then the enemy has accomplished much. Scurrying to & fro serves very little, if it then robs from the magnificent essence & giftedness of time, & what He would ask of our use of it. To use it unwisely would appear to serve not much good at all, other than to put us on a parallel par with the secular world's version of workaholism. I think that's what the Lord was trying to tell us, & make us aware the importance of, in Luke, chapter 10:38-42:

"As Jesus & his disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Marth was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried & upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, & it will not be taken away from her.'"

As Christians, so many times we get caught up in "Martha-ness", rather than truly going about doing what the Lord would want of us. If we are so busy running- to-&-fro "in His name", that we don't even have the time to truly hear the Lord's sweet call, then surely we have missed the point of what Jesus was trying to tell us. And if we think we must do all this, to earn His favor, then we have nullified the cross, in that we have bought into legalism, which tries to save ourselves through works, rather than accepting our salavation through grace. "For by grace are you saved, through faith--& that not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not of works, lest any many should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) Does that mean that since we are saved by grace, we are free to do nothing at all for the Lord's kingdom? Absolutely NOT, because a faith without works is dead, as well (James 2:26)! But when churchyness becomes synonymous with the secular work-a-holicness, thereby excluding hearing what the Lord could so effectively whisper to us in the "still"...then something is wrong. There is, after all, a very valid reason the Lord said:

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." ~ Psalms 46:10

He does not need our rushings; our busyness; our many meetings & committees; nor our churchyness to exalt him. What He needs is our stillness most of all...so that we might truly know, & fully understand...that He IS God...and that He is perfectly capable of BEING God, with us simply sitting at His feet as Mary did. Maybe if we realized how important this was most of all to Him, there'd be less fumblings in trying to be His hands & feet for our families, as well as for a lost & hurting world.

May we each learn what it is to be Marys, in a church-world that has for some reason, (& we can guess where this lie comes from)...convinced many Christians that they should & must be Marthas, to be acceptable in His sight. May we first, & always foremost, sit as Mary at His feet, being absolutely STILL...so that we might truly know that HE is God. Not our works to be glorified. Not an "I've done so much today for the Lord", as Martha felt. But HIM glorified. Him & only Him. Are we absolutely sure that in our churchyness/busyness, that we are not trying to glorify or even possibly run from ourselves? And if we are running, where are we running to? Do we truly understand how very vital it is that we run first to our Savior, and rest at his feet, before considering running around to any other activities...especially those called "church" ones? Have we truly put our busyness on the altar, & even more so, would we be willing to, were He to ask us? Or are we more comfortable crying out, as Martha did, for the Lord to look at all that we are doing for His sake? What is it we are truly worshipping, as we go about all these activities we do in His name? Can we understand, as Mary obviously did, the priority, above all else, of spending time with the presence, and true essence, of our dear Lord & Savior?

Lord, I do so pray that you give us the hands of Martha, as there is much to do for Your kingdom that we might help our families & a world that is hurting...but first & foremost, I ask for the heart of Mary, so that we might know what it IS that you truly want us to do with our Martha hands. Amen & amen.