What Really Matters?

Leadership lessons from  Mary and Martha.

Luke 10:38-42
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet LISTENING to what he said. 40 But Martha 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!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only ONE. Mary has CHOSEN what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

From the world’s point of view, Martha appeared to be more responsible than her sister Mary.
* Martha was a hard-worker.
* She made sure that everything was working properly and in decent order.
**This is the image of a responsible human being, in the eyes of the world.

**However, we see from this passage that Jesus is much more pleased with Mary’s disposition.
* Mary sits and listens.
* She is not concerned with the appearance of the house.
* She is not distracted by her thoughts and surroundings.
** Mary is focused on hearing the words of Jesus Christ.
**Mary  has learned to focus on what is most important and leave lesser things alone.

On the contrary, Martha chooses to work hard and listen later.
** Martha FAILS to realize that listening first will LESSEN the burden and SAVE her the trouble.
By listening to Jesus, she does not have to worry about the order of things, because His plans are FLAWLESS.

* Mary listened and trusted Jesus’ teachings which gave her peace. But, Martha followed her own inclinations which left her anxious and troubled.

If we look at it this way, Mary was at the advantage, though it may have appeared that she wasn’t doing much.

****Less is more when you focus on the RIGHT things.
And Jesus makes it very clear that Mary chose the greater portion that will last.

To become more like Mary!
First Set a goal; then you’ll be able to identify the resources or opportunities required to achieve it.
When these requirements are identified, you can then begin sorting them.
Note: Its important not only to set goals but also to set the right ones.
Here- Martha was the one who invited Jesus over. However, she didn’t have the right objectives in doing so.
*If her goal had been to become a better woman, Jesus’ visit would have been an opportunity to improve her weak areas, rather than an avenue to show off her strong (top chef) points.

Lord help me to become more of a Mary and take the TIME to listen First!

***The Heart of the Gospel
The heart of the gospel is that Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). That is shorthand for saying that the only way to be right with God is on the basis of who Christ is and what Christ has done, not who you are and what you have done.
Or another way to say the gospel is this:
*God’s being 100% for you is based on Christ alone, which we receive and enjoy by faith alone.
You can’t get God any more on your side than he is on the basis of Christ alone received by faith alone.

The biblical basis is 2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
He takes our sin. We become his righteousness. And that happens not by our doing a few righteous works—

When we love something, we submit
our will and our life to it.
What we love is the ultimate
commitment; it’s what we put first in our lives.
“…for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21

Are you a Mary or a Martha?
In life, we shouldn’t run around worrying about things that don’t matter.
As Modern Christians, we don’t understand the concept of the Sabbath, in that we don’t know how to be still in silence anymore.
There’s always some form of distractions for us.

Our/my problem is that we are always going-doing-going-doing-going-