Today’s Bible Reading: 1 Chronicles 22; 1 Peter 3: Micah 1; Luke 10
Luke 10:38-42 tells the story of two sisters, Mary and Martha. It is from this encounter that I have taken the name for my blog. Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
The end of the month is crunch time for me in my quilting business, it takes a lot of time to get things ready on my website with new patterns, and newsletters and facebook posts, sewing samples, and…there is much to do today and it is easy to become stressed about it-but I heard that still small voice this morning saying-seek ye first the kingdom of God. So here I am having decided it was better to sit at His feet and listen to His word before anything else.
And what does that word have to say to me this morning? Oh, boy-wives be submissive to your husbands. That sure flies in the face of what the world has to say doesn’t it. The world would portray such a woman as “a patsy”-a gullible and weak-minded person. Oh, far from it, I actually wrestle more with being the strong-willed one in my relationship with my husband. Choosing to submit to God by submitting to the husband He has given me is actually quite freeing rather than being a burdensome yoke. I wish I did it more perfectly. And Peter holds up Sarah and Abraham as my example. Well, what did Sarah do? She passed herself off as Abraham’s sister, not once but twice, and it caused a great deal of grief to a lot of people, but God set it all right in the end. Now that is some major trust!
And as if that is not a pretty tall order all on its own, Peter continues: To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.
This seems to go along very well with the story of the Good Samaritan in today’s reading from Luke. Who is my neighbor and how should I treat them? It is all summed up in Luke 10:25-28 with the main point being “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Loving God and loving people-sounds so easy when you say it like that. Like the lawyer who came to Jesus in these verses I too often try to justify my behavior when I fall short-or when I do not even want to try to love my neighbor, be it my husband, a brother or sister in Christ, a person I meet during my day-there is no justification for not loving them. And when I put loving God with all of my heart, soul, strength, and mind first-loving my neighbor will start to come naturally. It comes most naturally to those who are being made in the image of Christ.
Grace, Peace, and Mercy,
Luke 10:38-42 tells the story of two sisters, Mary and Martha. It is from this encounter that I have taken the name for my blog. Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
The end of the month is crunch time for me in my quilting business, it takes a lot of time to get things ready on my website with new patterns, and newsletters and facebook posts, sewing samples, and…there is much to do today and it is easy to become stressed about it-but I heard that still small voice this morning saying-seek ye first the kingdom of God. So here I am having decided it was better to sit at His feet and listen to His word before anything else.
And what does that word have to say to me this morning? Oh, boy-wives be submissive to your husbands. That sure flies in the face of what the world has to say doesn’t it. The world would portray such a woman as “a patsy”-a gullible and weak-minded person. Oh, far from it, I actually wrestle more with being the strong-willed one in my relationship with my husband. Choosing to submit to God by submitting to the husband He has given me is actually quite freeing rather than being a burdensome yoke. I wish I did it more perfectly. And Peter holds up Sarah and Abraham as my example. Well, what did Sarah do? She passed herself off as Abraham’s sister, not once but twice, and it caused a great deal of grief to a lot of people, but God set it all right in the end. Now that is some major trust!
And as if that is not a pretty tall order all on its own, Peter continues: To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead.
This seems to go along very well with the story of the Good Samaritan in today’s reading from Luke. Who is my neighbor and how should I treat them? It is all summed up in Luke 10:25-28 with the main point being “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Loving God and loving people-sounds so easy when you say it like that. Like the lawyer who came to Jesus in these verses I too often try to justify my behavior when I fall short-or when I do not even want to try to love my neighbor, be it my husband, a brother or sister in Christ, a person I meet during my day-there is no justification for not loving them. And when I put loving God with all of my heart, soul, strength, and mind first-loving my neighbor will start to come naturally. It comes most naturally to those who are being made in the image of Christ.
Grace, Peace, and Mercy,
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