Monday 23 June 2014

Sitting at Jesus' feet {stop being a mother and be a daughter}

Imagine a scene.

You are in a home, where visitors are in attendance.  Naturally, the hostess wants to do her best to provide and care for her guests.  There is food to prepare.  Drinks to offer.  Clearing up to be done.

It's a good thing to be hospitable.  It's a wonderful thing to be willing to care for others.

Imagine a sister, instead of busying herself with domestic duties, sitting.  Sitting at the feet of her Master, the Great Teacher, listening to His words of wisdom and blessing.

No bustling about serving, which was a normal, and right thing to do.

Sitting.

Listening.

Learning.

Martha (yes, you know who I am talking about), was cross.  She was possibly fuming.  Here she was, busy serving, and Mary was SITTING.

SITTING.

Did she not care about the job they had to do?   Did she not think that serving was important?

It was right to look after guests, and she was just listening.

Resting, whilst Martha was busy.

The thing is, I was thinking about this in a new light today.

Work is good.  Work is important. It's right to be take care of others, and be busy.

It's wrong to have a bad attitude about it.  That, I knew already.

What I saw afresh today was to do with my spiritual walk, versus my day to day life - more specifically as a mother.

We have got a mountain of jobs that are forever calling our name.  Cooking.  Cleaning.  Tidying.  Mending.  Caring.  Teaching.

A seemingly endless list of things.

It's oh so easy to neglect "that better part".  It's so easy to place pressure upon ourselves to think that the practical somehow trumps the spiritual.

"But, we have a responsibility to do X, Y and Z...."  we cry out.

My thought for today?

Should that responsibility ever trump the importance of drawing near to Jesus?

Our quiet time can so easily get pushed to the side, because "We have a duty to care for our family, which God gave us".

Perhaps we may think, "I can't possibly ignore my children so I can read my Bible".


No, no, NO, my soul.


"This ONE thing is needful."

This "One thing" - it's not the "Not being cumbered about" part.

It's the sitting and learning at Jesus' feet part.

Mothers have a vital role in a family.  We have the task of training up our children in the things of Christ.  If we are not making spiritual progress, by sitting and learning "at the feet of Jesus", then how can we function in our role as teacher of our children? If we are not first growing in Christ, and desperately soaking up all we can learn of Christ, then we can't impart that knowledge to our children.  We can't apply it to our lives, to make us a more godly example to them.

We don't need to get up before the children, or stay up until the small hours, trying to stay awake and read our Bibles.  What better example can we be to our children, than to have them SEE us read the scriptures!? Not just doing it because it's the only chance we get, but to do it intentionally - for them to see the importance God's Word has in your life.

Reading books that teach us.  Not just ear ticklers, that make everything sweet and simple.  Deep and meaningful literature, that makes us think, and challenges to  understand God better.

Listening to sermons. The world has addled our brains, and listening to God's Word being preached, other than on Sunday in church, seems to be a drudge and a chore.  I challenge my own heart first, here.  It's far easier to choose to listen to an audiobook, or watch a DVD, than to listen to sermon.  It's been a while since I listened to a sermon online, and due to the children being either ill, or potentially contagious, we stayed home from church today.  The sermon was SO challenging.  It was what made me think of this topic at all.  The challenge to "Come up hither".  To aim upwards to being in communion with the Lord and learning of Him.

It wasn't just a sermon for pastors.

Or Office bearers.

Or Sunday School teachers.

Or husbands.

We are all called to "come up" and get to know the Lord better.  To be more like Jesus.  To grow in our spiritual lives. We are His children -  daughters of the king.  That relationship comes above being a mother, or a wife.

It's not going to happen mystically and mysteriously, by some supernatural incident, with no input from us.

WE are required "come up".  WE need to take action.

There are few ways we can get closer to the Lord, and all of them require some action from us.

WE need to open our Bibles.

WE need to expose ourselves to good and faithful teaching - in books or in sermons.

It's not going to happen without effort.

And, it's THIS one thing that's needful

Parenting is right and good, but we can so easily become "cumbered about".  Spending more time searching for ways to make our life more manageable, beautiful, profitable and successful, than we do searching for God's voice to speak to us through His Word.

I heard a very visual analogy today.  Our Christian life is never one that stands still.  We cannot say we are spiritually at a certain point, and have no need to go forward, and that we won't go backwards.  We are either going up, or down.

My mind sprang to someone riding a bike up a hill.  You put in effort, and you go up.  You stop, and you don't stay still.  You will start heading back down the hill!

We cannot be mothers who stop spiritually "pedalling", because we think we have something else that is more important. So busy serving, that we are not actually serving the right master at all. Stressing, and causing exhaustion, over the temporal, and neglecting the spiritual.

We won't just stand still.

We won't just "stop going up".

Slowly, but surely, we'll start to roll backwards, to the detriment of our own life, and the lives of those around us.

NOTHING is more important than making sure that our spiritual life is healthy, and we are growing in our knowledge of Christ.

When Mary sat, she had to stop what she was doing, and rest.  As wives, mums, and women in general, we are so busy DOING, and can be so consumed with it all.  Putting learning about Jesus, above everything else, means a self-imposed sitting, and resting.  If nothing else, the break would do us a physical good.  More than that, we will be blessed, refreshed, and built up spiritually, which will make us more able to get back up and "do".

This week, I need to get into the Word more -  a daughter of the King, wanting to be more in tune with listening out for the voice of her Heavenly Father, as I seek for ways to grow more like Him.  Setting aside the "mother" hat, and basking in the role of "daughter".  Sitting.  Resting.

Making choices that allow me to pedal upwards, and not roll backwards.

Choosing that one thing that is needful.

Sitting at Jesus' feet.




“One thing is needful” -
Life crowds in;
Cumbered about,
Serving Him.
Busy and doing -
Priorities dim.
Make me to sit,
Oh, this I plead,
At Thy feet, Lord Jesus.

“One thing is needful”
Clamouring voice
Of many “things” –
I neglect to rejoice
In Christ my Saviour.
Surrender, by choice.
Make me to sit,
Oh, this I plead,
At Thy feet, Lord Jesus.


“One thing is needful”,
THIS all I need; 
Shut out the world -
On His Word feed.
Seeking Him only
My way to lead.
Make me to sit,
Oh, this I plead,
At Thy feet, Lord Jesus.

“One thing is needful” -
Good, better, best.
Choosing pursuits
Puts our life to the test.
Burdens aside,
On His bosom to rest.
Make me to sit,
Oh, this I plead,
At Thy feet, Lord Jesus.


“One thing is needful”
All else can’t take
That precious time.
Progress we must make,
In our sweet union.
Passion awake.
Make me to sit,
Oh, this I plead,

At Thy feet, Lord Jesus.
C.Cordle 







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