Are You Moving The Lord's Heart?

We have been following alongside these two sisters, Mary and Martha this week, looking at the difference between their response to Jesus in both Luke 10 and John 11.

We find that Martha refuses to sit at Jesus' feet, she is all about 'doing' rather than 'waiting', she is  easily offended, she thinks she is doing the lion's share of the work and grumbles about others, she has all the answers yet she questions the Lord and accuses and even points out His fault.  She says with her mouth she believes that Jesus is who he says he is but continues to doubt him when he proceeds to do his next powerful miracle.

Martha had a critical heart, yet John 11:5 says;

Jesus loved Martha,...

God loves all the Martha's thankfully because we too can be just like her.

We grumble or accuse based on our own discomforts without realizing that in all our 'doing' we are serving the Lord not people.  We think too highly of ourselves in our pride and think we know or have all the right answers just like the Pharisees did.

Romans 12 is a mandate for Christians to present their bodies to God alone.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, 

by the mercies of God, 

to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, 

holy and acceptable to God, 

which is your spiritual worship.  

So when we go about 'doing' we must be mindful that we are not serving man, rather God, and in that reality we will not be offended with others when our service goes unnoticed.

Paul continues in Romans 12 to show us what is acceptable in the Lord's sight.

Do not be conformed to this world, 

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, 

that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, 

what is good and acceptable and perfect.  

Paul knows that we are hard wired to think and act as worldly people, who do not know or understand God and His ways, so he reminds us to allow our thinking to be changed here.

The world would say your time is your own, the world would say, my needs should come first, the world would say hold on to your life and don't give it away because people will take advantage of you and then you will not be autonomous in your endeavor to serve God.

The world is a liar! 

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you 

not to think of himself more highly than he out to think, 

but to think with sober judgement, 

each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

It is only by the grace of God that any of us can serve to the capacity that we serve so even in our service to Him we are blessed by Him to accomplish it.

Paul got it!  He says in 1 Corinthians 15:8-11 that the grace of God is the only reason that he even could serve God appropriately.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, 

he appears also to me.  

For I am the least of the apostles, 

unworthy to be called an apostle, 

because I persecuted the church of God.  

But by the grace of God I am what I am, 

and his grace toward me was not in vain.  

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, 

though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.  

Whether then it was I or they, so we preached and so you believed. 

We are all unworthy and are only able to serve God in the capacity that we do due to His grace manifested to and through us!

We can work harder than anyone else but it is only because of His grace working in us that we are able to accomplish His will for our lives. 

Mary understood that she was unworthy but that her Lord loved and embraced her despite her lowly state and that is why she could be found sitting at His feet, hanging on His every word, running to Him, weeping to Him.  And this heart attitude stirred the Lord's heart!

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, 

she fell at his feet, saying to him, 

"Lord, if you had been here, 

my brother would not have died."  

When Jesus saw her weeping, 

and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, 

he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.  

And he said, "Where have you laid him?" 

 They said to him, "Lord, come and see."  

Jesus wept.  

So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!  

Where Martha approached the Lord with 'strength', Mary approached him in weakness.  And Jesus' heart was moved only by one sister.  As she wept he wept.  He had for and showed compassion to Mary because she understood that she needed him and she had no qualms about showing him that she needed him.  She maintained no pretense or facade of strength but ran to the Lord in her weakness looking for His grace and love.

How are you going to approach Jesus today?  In your pride and strength with an attitude of entitlement or are you going to run to Him weeping relying on His grace alone to carry you through.

Father, we thank you for your great love toward us that was demonstrated by Christ's pure and ultimate sacrifice for our pride.  Give us a revelation of our sinful hearts so that we can see the glory and excellency of Christ.  We don't want to be a grumblers but we want to run to Jesus and lean on His grace to do the work of the kingdom.  

Renew our minds today and cleanse us from a heart attitude of pride and entitlement that comes from the world.   Help us to believe what your word says, that our bodies are not our own and that we are to  offer them up to You as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable by your blood and empowered to do it by Your grace.  

Help us Lord to be like Mary, a once rebellious woman by her name sake, who found the one and only thing to be concerned about, the good portion that could not be taken from her, the grace and mercy of her Savior.

 Help us to move Your heart as Mary moved Your heart!