You may be a regular visitor here, or, this may be your first time. Perhaps you stumbled across our website by accident…and you’ve never even read the book that started everything (if not…I highly recommend grabbing a copy HERE, because it will explain a LOT), and maybe you’ve been just scrolling through our posts thinking, “Wow. Some of this stuff seems kind of extreme! Why would they do all this? I know lots of people who aren’t this extreme, and they are still Christians!”

Yes, it’s true. You can call yourself a Christian, and still live a mediocre life…if that’s what you want. You can just get by with doing good stuff, and helping people, and going to church on Sundays — not doing anything TOO extreme, or unusual. No one will think anything of it. And you won’t encounter much resistance from friends or family (everyone loves “nice” people, who don’t make them feel…“uncomfortable”), or the devil (he certainly is glad when you don’t do anything too extreme, and are content to live in mediocrity).

But what about when you stand before the throne of the Lord, and there are hundreds of men and women who have given up *everything* for the Lord — houses, families, countries, health, alone time, security, finances….??

What about when you stand next to those who have lived with reckless faith — plowing forward in service to the Lord, even when all looked bleak and crazy to all who looked on. Those who have been tortured, beaten, and hated for the sake of Christ. Hebrews 11 is an excellent chapter to read, to cause us to think soberly about the cost of following Christ. As are the biographies of many men and women of God (you can find our recommendations HERE).

Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I go more into depth about these things in my book, “Unshakable”, especially the chapter called, “Why I Have Given up the World”, so I’m not going to get TOO detailed here…because I give quite a lot to chew on in my book, if you’re interested in digging more into the “whys”. But to sum it all up, I would have to say that the verse above from Hebrews is the BIG “why”.

It is because the “cloud of witnesses” (aka: the great men and women of faith) has gone before us, and their blood has paved the way for our salvation — can we take their blood sacrifices so lightly?? Can we honestly look at the lives they lived – in starvation, torture, imprisonment, and death – and say, “I’m a Christian too!” as we grumble about getting out of bed for church in the morning, or can’t be bothered to make the time to spend with Jesus each day just for one measly little hour?

It is because Jesus left everything for us, and has set us a high standard of purity and holiness.

And it is for the JOY that is set before us! The JOY of an unbreakable friendship with Jesus, when everything else in this world so easily (and frequently) crumbles away. The JOY of true FREEDOM from sin and the weight of death. The JOY of eternity with Jesus, where there will no longer be striving, or fear, or heartbreak, or death, or sin, or the devil!

AND…even more — we can rejoice as we lay down our earthly lives for Jesus, because we know that we are bringing our Bridegroom the JOY that HE endured the Cross for, on our behalf: the joy of having a bride who truly loves Him more than anything this world can offer.

I had a conversation with a friend a while back about spending time with Jesus, and one of the things she said got me to thinking.

“You’re more of a Mary, and I’m a Martha.”

We very much like to categorize ourselves in this day and age.  From ISFP, extrovert, type A, phlegmatic, wall flower, all of the way to “What ice cream are you?” or “Which Bible character are you?” we are encouraged to establish a solid identity, our own little niche of belonging in a chaotic world.  Those boxes often make us second guess any actions or decisions that would take us outside of our own identities.  When it comes to our relationships with the Lord, that cookie cutter identity can be crippling.

When my friend told me that I was a Mary, I had to laugh on the inside.  She is very outspoken, while I could sit for an hour looking at a piece of grass.  She manages to juggle a dozen different tasks at the same time as nurturing half a dozen different people through their fears, joys, and anxieties, all within the span of ten minutes.  I work best with one thing at a time, and can get so focused that I will sometimes not even hear what people are saying around me until my job is done.  From the outside, that might seem like the perfect recipe for sitting at Jesus feet, but being still and listening are not things that come naturally to me.

My mind runs a mile a minute, so it isn’t uncommon for my prayers to become chatter sessions, telling the Lord everything I have planned, and when I think things are taking too long to happen.  I have to laugh at myself when He reminds me to listen, and instead I go down a list and ask Him about all of the things I think He might have to say.  In short, I am very much a Martha.

Realistically, we all face the same struggle Martha did.  When Luke begins this story (Luke 10:38), he says that Martha was the one who welcomed Jesus and His disciples into her home.  Martha had a brother named Lazarus as well as her sister Mary, but it seems that she was the one who took the initiative to invite Jesus into their home.  That is is where we all know to start, and it is certainly nothing to sneeze at!  Martha knew that there would be nothing more important in her life than having Jesus come into her house.  Hospitality was (and still is) vitally important in their culture, and she was ready to give all of the resources, strength, and time she had to make sure that the Teacher and His friends would remember the welcome she had given them.

Now, Martha was no Pharisee or Sadducee.  Her focus wasn’t on whether or not she would look impressive enough.  Her focus was on hospitality and doing good for others.  Along with Jesus and the twelve primary disciples, who knows how much of a crowd was following Jesus that day?  She wasn’t about to let any of them go hungry.  So where did she get distracted?

The story of Mary and Martha takes place in Luke chapter ten.  If we go back just one chapter, Luke nine gives us the account of Jesus feeding five thousand men, in addition to women and children.  Now He is back in Bethany, and here is Martha, stretching herself thin trying to feed one household when the Bread of Life is there sitting in the next room.

Martha does seem like a go-getter in this passage, but fears apply to all of us at one point or another.  She feels the pressure of wanting to do her job well.  She wants to bring comfort and rest to the lives of others.  She hates to think of anyone slipping through the cracks on her watch.  She gets so lonely in all of her cares and responsibilities, that she gets upset with the Lord for not easing her burden by having her sister help.

It’s not that Mary was more into feeling and Martha was more into doing.  All of Martha’s worries are addressed at the feet of Jesus.  It can be so easy for us to imagine that He has overlooked us with His help, and to say “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?”  Not one person was overlooked when Jesus fed the people in the wilderness, even though the disciples had no money to feed them.  When we place the burden of success on our own shoulders, that is when our stress levels skyrocket, and things start falling apart, whether we’re juggling caring for a family and coordinating a dinner, or just trying to get through our paperwork.  Meanwhile, Jesus is patiently waiting, calling each of us by name.  It is hard to give up control to the Lord, “but only one thing is necessary.”  And when we seek first that one thing, all of our needs will be met, and we will find that Jesus provides more fruitfulness to His ministries than we could ever hope to do on our own.

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
~1 Peter 5:6,7

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
~Matthew 11:28-30

 

Martha, Martha.  Won’t you taste and see that He is good?

by Stephanie H.