There is a quiet tension many faithful women carry. We love Jesus. We want to serve Him well. We say yes often. We show up early and stay late. And somewhere along the way, our calendars become full while our souls grow thin.
Scripture gently invites us to examine this tension through the familiar story of two sisters.
In Luke 10:38–42, Jesus enters the home of Mary and Martha. Martha immediately begins serving. The word used suggests she was pulled in many directions, distracted by much ministry. Mary, however, sits at Jesus’ feet and listens. When Martha asks Jesus to intervene, He responds tenderly, not harshly. He does not rebuke her service. He addresses her heart.
“Martha, Martha,” He says, “you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.”
This is not a story about laziness versus productivity. It is about intimacy versus activity.
Martha was doing good things. She was serving the Lord Himself. Yet even holy work can quietly replace holy presence. Ministry, when untethered from communion, can become noise rather than nourishment.
Jesus does not say Martha chose the wrong thing. He says Mary chose the better thing.
Better does not mean busier. Better means closer.
Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly shows us that His desire has always been relationship before responsibility.
In Genesis, God walked with Adam and Eve before He gave them work to do. In Exodus, He told Moses that His presence would go with them before they ever entered the Promised Land. In Psalm 27, David declares that the one thing he seeks is to dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon His beauty. Not to build something for God, but to be with Him.
Even Jesus Himself modeled this rhythm. Mark 1 tells us that while crowds were searching for Him, He withdrew to a solitary place to pray. If the Son of God did not live on activity alone, neither can we.
Being busy for God often feels safer than being with God. Activity gives us measurable outcomes. Intimacy requires stillness, honesty, and surrender. Sitting at His feet means we stop performing and start listening. It means we allow Him to tend to us, not just use us.
Psalm 46 calls us to “be still and know” that He is God. Knowing comes before doing. Isaiah 30 reminds us that in repentance and rest is our salvation, and in quietness and trust is our strength. Strength is not found in striving, but in abiding.
Jesus later teaches this clearly in John 15. He does not say bear fruit by working harder. He says abide in Me. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. With Him, fruit comes naturally, quietly, over time.
This is where the story of Mary and Martha becomes deeply personal. Many of us love Jesus sincerely, yet live perpetually distracted. We pray while multitasking. We read Scripture quickly, checking it off a list. We serve until we are weary, then wonder why joy feels distant.
Jesus is not asking us to do less for Him. He is inviting us to do everything from a place of nearness.
When we sit with Him first, service flows from love rather than obligation. Our yes becomes lighter. Our hearts become softer. Our work becomes worship.
Martha’s problem was not her hands. It was her heart posture. Anxiety crept in because service had replaced stillness. Jesus did not shame her. He invited her into rest.
That same invitation still stands.
Reflection
Where has activity quietly replaced intimacy in my walk with God?
Do I spend more time talking to God about my work than sitting with Him in His presence?
What distracts me most when Jesus draws near?
Application
This week, choose intentional stillness. Set aside unhurried time with God that is not about producing or preparing. Read Scripture slowly. Sit quietly. Let prayer be a place of listening, not just speaking. Allow service to flow from time spent at His feet.
Prayer
Jesus, thank You for inviting me into closeness, not performance. Forgive me for the moments I have mistaken busyness for faithfulness. Teach me to sit with You, to listen, and to rest in Your presence. Let my service flow from love, not pressure. Draw my heart back to the one thing that is truly necessary. I choose the better portion. In you precious name. Amen.
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