A couple of years ago, we studied the book Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. I felt like I could identify with both sisters,then, but at their worst, not their best. I knew that I, like Martha was so concerned about doing more instead of being close like Mary. I didn't understand how God could bless people who seemed to me to be shirking their responsibilities and sitting idly by while the rest of us labored. But, I also identified with Mary. When circumstances were not ideal, like Lazarus' death, I was grief-stricken. I couldn't understand why God didn't work things out how I expected when I felt that we were so close.
Now I see, after reading about Martha in All the Women of the Bible by Herbert Lockyer, that the sisters are not in complete contrast and their personalities are needed in the Kingdom. Just as Ecclesiastes declares, there is a time for everything. If serving comes from the heart, and not in an effort to gain recognition, then there is a time to serve. If sitting at the feet of Jesus is done to be closer to Him and not to get out of doing Kingdom work that we know He has called us to do, then there is a time to rest. When things go wrong, you can cry like Mary and question like Martha, as long as you know that by faith, God will make a way. The point is that we don't have to choose. We don't have to be like one sister or the other. We don't have to beat ourselves up for not being more like Mary or more like Martha. All we need to do is seek to be more like Jesus. There is room for every personality in the Kingdom. Each temperament and talent has its place. We can all stand together, and where one is weak, the other is strong. God made us and He knows every idiosyncrasy within our personality. Yet, He loves us dearly and will use us just as were are if we let Him.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
About Ms. EVWhen you have elevated values, it is not about being snobby; it is about living victoriously! Archives
March 2016
Categories
All
Copyright Notice© Toni L. Wortherly and Ms. EV's Blog, 2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Toni Wortherly and Ms. EV's Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Ms. EV's Blog by Toni L. Wortherly is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. |