Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World- WEEK ONE PART 1

Are you a Martha or a Mary?

Are you trying to do it all?

Most of us are especially around the holidays. Think for a second, if Jesus stood before you right now, what would you do?

Would you sit at his feet as Mary did and listen to what he had to say? Or would you be distracted by how your home looked or all the things that you need to get don (e, like Martha?

I believe many women are struggling with a Martha’s heart but desire to be more like Mary.  Mary is the perfectionist, the people-pleaser, the woman who puts others above herself and attends to their needs and comfort. (Oh I am seeing myself already). She becomes so busy with her duties, she misses intimacy with Christ.

Mary is the woman who is so captivated by just the presence of her Savior. She sits at His feet and neglects her responsibilities. NEITHER is RIGHT and NEITHER is WRONG.

This Bible study, “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, will help us discover where and how to find “intimacy with God even in the busyness of our lives”.

We will be finding a balance between “kitchen duties” and “living room intimacy” with Christ.  Think about how it is in your own life when you are in the kitchen. Busy as a bee, cooking and cleaning. But when you sit down in the living room you can relax and enjoy what is taking place there.

I pray that after this study you will have found more intimacy with Jesus and a better understand of the things that distract you from your time with your Savior.

I debated with myself how long to do this study. In researching I have found in done in 6 weeks, 11 week and 12 weeks. I was initially going to go with the 12 weeks thought that you might get bored or tired of the study. So I decided to do the 6 weeks.  I will have each week in two parts however. Part 1 will be posted on Wednesdays and Part 2 will be posted on Fridays. There is a lot of “good stuff” in the book and I don’t want those without a book to miss out. So I am trying to post highlights of the chapters.

As always, study and join the discussion at our own pace.  I acknowledge the spiritual warfare that will be in great force as you begin this study, you make get behind, never finish or just stop. It is Satan’s work. We are here to support each other and if you need prayer with this study, or any other study or other need, please let me know. I want to stand in the gap for you.

Let’s get started

WEEK 1 PART 1

Although this story is ONLY a few verse long, it has a lot of power to change our lives. So go ahead and read our story : LUKE 10:38-42

MEMORY VERSE “ Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” MATTHEW 11:28

The Tale of Two Sisters

This story we can see the conflict we feel as women. Even as men but not in the kitchen, but maybe hunting and fishing or fixing things around the house. We all at times struggle with wanting to worship like Mary but the Martha in us keeps reminding us that we have other things to do. I am experiencing this right now. Between caring for my mother and finding the “quiet” time to study for my Sunday school lesson plan and this Bible study is almost impossible. My time is usually after mother goes to sleep (whatever time that is) then I can relax and open my books. But unfortunately by then I am so exhausted I fall asleep with book and pen in hand.

Are you a Martha? Or is there a Martha in your life? The perfect hostess with the mostess. ( I know that’s not a word) She will prepare a meal fit for a king. Everything has to be just right.

This would probably describe Martha. We don’t know if she knew that Jesus was coming ahead of time. He was already their friend and by this time well known for his teaching and many people followed him. They would be uninvited guest. If Martha knew ahead of Jesus’ arrival she wasn’t expecting his followers.

When they showed up, Mary must have thought, “ Oh no, not extra guest” . She had so much to do and while doing it, she was looking around for Mary. Then she spots her. Thinking to herself “There’s my lazy sister” sitting at Jesus’ feet. Oh by the way, this “dinner party” that Martha was having was for men only, because that was tradition. Now Mary has crashed the party. What was she thinking?

Mary was so taken with what Jesus had to say, that she didn’t notice that she was the only woman there, nor did she notice Martha “running around like a chicken with her head cut off”. Have you ever been into something you were doing so much that you weren’t aware of what was going on around you?

Finally, Martha had had enough. She was going to speak up. But she didn’t go to Mary she went to Jesus. Don’t you find that odd? It is like when your co-worker isn’t “pulling her/his share of the work and instead of saying something to them directly about it you go to your boss. 

Martha expected Jesus to tell Mary to return to “her duties” in the kitchen, because in those days that is where the women were expected to be. But that is now what Jesus did.

Jesus response reminded me of when I had my palm hit with a ruler in grammar school for taking too much. Imagine that, me talking too much. Anyway, a little reprimand is the way I read the verse, even as gently as Jesus said the words.

“Mary has chosen the better part”. Better part? What like the better part of fried chicken is the “pully-bone”?

So if we are being a Martha we have not chosen the better part. We must have the thigh piece of the fried chicken. 

But Martha was doing more for the Lord and Mary was doing less. So doing more is NOT better than doing less? Sometimes God requires “less” of us than “more” of us.

God made us all different. We have different gifts and different personalities. But in this story there was a choice. The “better part” was available to both Mary and Martha, just as it is available for each one of us. We have to MAKE that choice.

When we live in constant tension of the “things we have to do” , those that are urgent and the important, there is rarely anything that has to be done today. We don’t mind putting off extra time for prayer and study, but the urgent task calls for instant action even when they can wait.  I remember taking a time management course years ago.  It divide things in four categories. The “Today” batch. It wasn’t always had to be today, but is was the things that needed to be done first. Like STAT in the medical field. The second batch was important. It included those that needed to be taken care of in a couple of weeks. The third was those things that had a deadline of more than 2 weeks and then the last one. The “whenever” batch is what I would call it. Or the “’roundtoit” batch. Those things to do when you get around to it.

When we have busy lives, not only is it hard to find the time to “sit at Jesus’s feet” but we don’t have the energy to serve him either. Jesus us our elite example. He was never in a hurry. He was not influenced to the world’s demands or needs. Jesus said “ I only do what the Father tells me to do”

How great would it be if we were to in tuned with God that nothing we did was wasted. No action. No word.

FINAL THOUGHTS.

Just as Jesus welcomed Mary to sit at His feet, just as He invited Martha to leave the kitchen for a while to share the “BETTER PART”, Jesus bids to us to come and do the same.

Salvation isn’t about what we do, it’s about what Jesus did. We worry and get upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. The “one thing” is not found in doing more. It is found by sitting at His feet. Jesus invites us to come and rest, to spend time with him in His “living room”.

SITTING AT JESUS’S FEET

1.       Read Luke 10:38-42 again. List at least two things you learned about Martha in this passage and at least two things you learned about Mary.

2.     Is it possible for our basic character to change from a Martha to a Mary, or are we destined to live our lives stuck in a predetermined nature? Explain.

3.     What does the Bible say in the following verses about our potential for change:   Ezekiel 36:26-27 ; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 1:6

4.     Read Matthew 11:28-30, circle key words and meditate on these verses-really thing about what Jesus is saying. Then memorize this passage phrase by phrase. Write it on an index card, refer to it frequently, repeating it until it becomes a part of you.

WEEK 1 PART 2