Last week I was reading in Luke 10 and I came across a verse that I really needed to hear. Luke 10:41-42 says:
"But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."
I felt a lot like Martha last week. I was prepping for my graduation recital and I was all over the place about it. I was anxious and troubled about many things. I had been practicing forever so I felt like I was just about ready to sing all the songs in my sleep. But I was also nervous and anxious and emotional because my recital was just another reminder that I'm truly actually graduating in just under five weeks. In the twenty-four hours before my recital, I sobbed so much. About graduation. About having prepared for my recital so much and it would all be over so quickly. It was cringey.
My nervous and anxious feelings were making me short-tempered and making me want to be grumpy with people, and be rude and unkind. But obviously I didn't actually want to do that because I love my friends and I want to be kind and loving as often as I can be.
My nervous and anxious feelings also made me realize that I need Jesus. Because I know that He is the only One who can supply me with the peace, kindness, and grace that I so desperately need.
But why do we all too often act like Jesus isn't enough?
At my church, I sit in the area among all of the young people. And there's something that I notice we do a lot, and I say "we" because I am just as guilty as anyone when it comes to this. And let's be honest, I know it's not just the young people at my church who do this. I just happen to sit amongst the young people every Sunday. When it comes time for the sermon, we start texting our friends, playing games on our phones, struggling to stay awake. It's like the music and the prayer times are just sexy enough to keep our interest, but the Word of God and the teaching that comes from it are not.
But why is that? Why can we not focus on a sermon for thirty minutes? We can focus on an episode on Netflix for forty-five minutes, but we're out here saying that Jesus is Lord, He is everything to us, and yet we can't even stay focused on the teaching from His Word!
I don't know folks. I don't have answers to these questions of mine, other than the fact that we live in a fallen world, which is why I said that I am just as guilty in this area as any of the people that I attend church with.
To bring this full-circle, my nervous and anxious feelings about my recital helped me to realize yet again that I need to keep Jesus at the center of my life always. Because without Him I would have just been short-tempered and grumpy with my friends all week. And heck, I know that even with Jesus I still failed last week and needed forgiveness (So if you're reading this and you go to school with me, I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry - I'll do better this week).
I needed strength from the Holy Spirit in order to feel peace last week, to be gracious and loving and kind to those around me. Because if it was up to me, I would have been snippy with everyone up until my recital was done. But I had to remember that Jesus is enough. He deserves my time, and judging by how I feel my recital went, I know that He honoured the time I'd spent with Him and He gave me peace, grace, rest.
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary."
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