Do You Know How To Listen With Love?
Good Morning Friends,
Both Mary and Martha were followers of Jesus. They both loved Jesus but how they viewed life and witnessed about Christ were very different. When it came to duty and devotion, those internal motivators, they were very different. Here we learn that it is not an either or proposition but a matter of ordering with the first thing being of God in the experience of life. The story is one that encourages us to have it all in proper order. Here devotion is always to come before duty…love before the law….attending before acting. Here it becomes clear that we are to learn not just intellectual lessons but be prompted to respond to the transformational demands of choosing a grace-filled life. Do You Know How To Listen With Love?
Scripture: Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42 (NRSV)
16Let the word of Christ* dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.*
Colossians 3:16 (NRSV)
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:25 (NRSV)
Message: The Christian life is being in a loving relationship with Jesus….following him….listening to his voice…staying near him….trusting in him. It is a path of humility but also this listening and conviction is an art as well as an act of love. It is designed to set us free. Today responding to the supernatural leanings of the Holy Spirit I listen to the still small voice that calls out nudging us to do on earth that which is the way of heaven. Maybe this focused unity of listening is as close as we get to being at the feet of Jesus. The message here is clear. We live in a world that is upset and duty bound… influenced by the cultures of religion, media, business, education, government, family, arts and entertainment. We are captives of culture. We live in a Martha world that is in desperate need of a witness of a reality of God with us…to a love within us. We are prisoners in need of the songs of God.
To reclaim our influence and sanity we
need to stop doing things out of habit and instead begin doing things out of love. We must listen for the opportunities. It is in the listening that people become more alive, clear, and beautiful. Without listening there is no poetry, no music, and no prayer. Here our soul is nurtured in the connection that communication creates. Here the deepest insights of our creative mind emerges as we are comforted by the counselor in a concert for our character in the power of listening. Here Christ mediates both our worship and relationships.
Pray we listen so we might obey. Pray we listen and are nourished by the deep roots of God’s word. Pray we listen to build up others. Pray we listen as a way of fighting the good fight. Pray we listen to be spiritually strengthened. Pray we listen so we might walk a God-designed pathway to joy. Pray we listen to glorify God. Pray we always choose to spend time at the feet of Christ. Pray we listen with humility and restraint. Pray we are blessed not stressed. Pray we are not distracted. Pray we have the right focus. Pray
that our listening produces learning and our learning a leaning toward love. Pray we realize that God has a listening heart and will guide us by the Holy Spirit. Pray we learn to give our complete attention to others in the music of life.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 