Mary and Martha: Be with Jesus Before You Work for Jesus

Hey, Carpool Crew. Pastor Justin here. I hope your day is off to a great start. The one thing I want you to remember is this: be with Jesus before you work for Jesus. Now, listen to this from Luke 10:41. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary." All right, picture this. Jesus is visiting his friends Mary and Martha at their house. Martha is busy, like busy-busy, cooking, cleaning, setting the table, trying to make everything perfect for Jesus. But her sister Mary, Mary is just sitting with Jesus, listening to him, soaking it in. Martha gets really frustrated. She marches up to Jesus and says, "Lord, don't you care that I'm doing all the work? Tell Mary to help me." Bold question to bring to Jesus. She basically is calling Jesus out. Now, here's the big moment. Jesus says her name twice, really soft. "Martha, Martha." He doesn't yell. He doesn't shame her. He says, "You are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is better." In other words, it's all good to work hard, but some things just don't need to be done. Some things can wait. Some things can be missed. It's even better to sit close to me. Now, here's the thing. If Jesus were sitting with you right now, he might tell you, "I love when you do good things, but I want your attention first. Be with me. Then go do all the stuff." You know, think about your week. Sometimes we all act like Martha, don't we? We get busy. We get rushed. We forget the reason why we're doing all these things in the first place. The same thing can happen at home. Chores, activities, homework, cleaning up, making beds, dusting things off, sweeping the floor. But sometimes you need to hit pause like Mary did. Now, here's what you can do this week. First, in the morning before you grab your phone or rush out the door, take 30 seconds and say, "Jesus, here's my day. Stay with me in it." Second, pick one car ride this week to play a worship song instead of music or scrolling. Third, before bed, tell Jesus one thing about your day. Just one sentence, like you would tell a friend. Just talk to him. Let's go back to that one thing I wanted you to remember. Be with Jesus before you work for Jesus. Remember, Carpool Crew, no matter where you are or how you're listening, say it with me, God loves you. And parents, if you've been enjoying this podcast, do me a quick favor. Head over to Apple or Spotify and leave us a rating and a review. This helps other families discover the podcast, and it really is the easiest way. I get messages from parents all the time who just discovered us, and we love that. And you leaving a rating and review will really help other families discover the podcast too. Now, before you go, let's answer this question together. When this week can our family slow down and just be with Jesus together? I'll see you next time on Carpooling with Jesus.