Choose the Better Thing

Choose the Better Thing

by Lois Evans

One thing that I have noticed over the many years that I have served as a wife to a minister is that staleness can creep into a woman’s life when she begins to base who she is, or her identity, on a performance standard set by others. One reason for this staleness is because she has begun to let other people dictate her schedule and her ministry. She has allowed herself to listen to the “Martha’s” in her life rather than to Jesus.

Let’s recall what Martha said in Luke 10:40, “But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached him and said, ‘Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to come to me.’”

Tell her to help me. Tell her to get busy. Tell her to do what I’m doing. Tell her to get distracted, too.

But Jesus didn’t tell Mary any of those things. Rather, He told Martha that Mary had chosen the better thing.

We can lose our blessing by hanging around people who feel that they have been appointed by God to tell us what to do. And if we allow ourselves to take our directions and marching orders from others rather than from God, we will quickly find ourselves defeated.

So rather than looking to others, or even to myself, to find the standard for the life to which Jesus has called me, I need to look directly at God. Because when I look at God, that is when I can better see myself. He created me for His purposes, so why not look to the Creator to discover those purposes.