Living by Distractions

“But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made… ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.’” Luke 10:40-42

I am definitely connected with the frustration of Martha as over the years I have allowed silly worries to crowd my mind and frustrate my fellowship with Christ. More recent has been the morning devotionals that I post at the end of my Bible study and time with God. The recipe is simple as I am to choose the one thing that is needed: Him.

I must admit that some mornings Martha rises out of bed with a full agenda for the day. As Martha, I approach my Bible study with an urgent pondering of life trying to apply whatever passage I read that morning. It can easily become ‘preparation’ instead of Presence and a distraction instead of an experience. The preparations before posting are very important but not to the exclusion of time with Christ. Christ wasn’t telling Martha that her preparations were pointless but that they were simply crowding out the most important part – time with Him. We are to always choose what is better which is Christ first.

The word preparation as used in the New Testament translates as ‘attendance, service and ministry.’ As we approach the day with all of its distractions we must attend to our own time with God in order to bolster our service and ministries. Each of these words describing preparation has important roles to play in all of our lives.

Satan places distractions at our feet in an effort to crowd us out from sitting at Christ’s feet. We must be aware of these distractions as our traps that keep us too busy for ‘Mary time.’ We must make concerted efforts to step over the distractions Satan has placed in our path and kneel at His feet – the better way.

Don’t ever forget that Satan is a mastermind of ‘mastering our minds.’