What if… Day 100

What if, and this is a big what if, what if Mary was doing exactly what she should have been doing in sitting at Jesus’ feet and Martha too was doing exactly what she should have been doing in serving? The scriptures present a very confusing duality. At certain points we are called to be children of God, sons and daughters, partakers in the inheritance. At times the scriptures implore us to rest, to worship, and to simply draw near to the Father. But at other points in scripture we are called to be servants, laborers, instruments to be used for the kingdom. At times the scriptures call for obedience, sacrifice, and hardship. These two entirely separate calls, in my opinion anyhow, hardly seem compatible.

But what if Mary acting as a child of God was right where she needed to be at that moment and Martha acting as a servant was right where she needed to be at that moment also? I believe that Mary was operating out of Love and adoration for Jesus. Martha however was drawn away with much serving. She was operating out of obedience and sacrifice. Prov. 25:12 says that care/ anxiety causes depression, or causes the heart to stoop or become low. It seems that those who are called to service, to labor, to sacrifice would generally, like Martha be retaining too much anxiety. But Prov. 25:12 also says that a good word causes the heart to rejoice. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” If we focus on thee good Word and labor, serve, and sacrifice out of love then we won’t likely be drawn away, or cast down, or become depressed. I believe we’ve been called to serve out of love, we’ve been called to sacrifice out of adoration, and we’ve been called to be obedient out of respect and passion.

I couldn’t ever see it before but the two seemingly separate calls to son-ship and to servant-hood may just possibly be one and the same. We just need to learn how to serve with the heart of a son. I think we put way to much stock in DOING good and we forget that we need to BE good. All those "have tos" lose their meaning when we stop doing them out of love and compassion. I've been a "have to" robot lately, a bit like the tin man, I've lost my heart in all of these mechanics. I'm nothing without a heart.