Can you think of the last time you were distracted? When someone was telling you something, but you couldn’t really listen. When you went online and then completely forgot what you were looking for in the first place. When you opened your Bible app during a church service but got pulled into an email from your boss. I think we are all intimately acquainted with what we’re getting distracted by. And most of us know it’s a problem in our lives. But I think there’s an even more important question than, “What are we being distracted by?” And it’s this one:

What are we being distracted from?

We are bombarded by so many things vying for our attention in the world. And like you, I want to blame everyone else. The maker of my iPhone. The 24/7 access I’ve been given to news. The algorithms being used by social media companies. And especially all of the people who just won’t leave me alone when I’m trying to do good work. But we’re in the middle of a teaching series called Owning What Owns You.

While there is so much competing for my attention, I am responsible for what I am giving my attention to.

I’m calling this message, “Distracted from What Matters Most”.

Luke 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

I would love to begin by talking about what Martha got right before we address what she misunderstood about what matters most. Martha opened her home to Jesus. When you open your home to someone, you’re opening your life to them. It is in my home where I feel most free to be myself. It is in my home where I let my guard down most. I feel most relaxed in my home. And I tend to invite my closest friends into my home. And if I invite new people into my home, that one gesture often builds a closer friendship with them. Martha has the spiritual gift of hospitality.

She also has the gift of serving others and this too is a good thing. Jesus even said this about Himself – “I did not come to be served, but to serve and give my life.” We are called to serve. In fact, if you aren’t serving others in some way, your spiritual growth will be stunted.

Jesus loves when we offer hospitality and service to Him and other people.

So way to go Martha in so many ways. However:

Our service for God was never intended to replace our life with God.

This truth has been so hard for me to believe and live out. The easiest thing for me to believe and find my identity in is everything I do for God, for my family, and for this church community. Can I believe I’m loved without the accomplishment? Can I ever fully rest in what Jesus has done for me or do I have to live with anxiety over whether I’m doing enough? Who am I, even, if I’m not daily producing at a high level?

I’m sure that much like you, my life with God didn’t start this way. I realized that God loved me just as I was and that Jesus came to make a way for me to be whole – not by doing stuff, but by receiving all of the stuff He did for me. So what causes this for so many of us, especially those of us wanting to accomplish great things for God? I read something a few years ago that has helped me so much with this.

A close friend shared an article by Dallas Willard I had never seen before. It’s called Living in the Vision of God and I’d love to share some of that with you.

“What, then, is the general pattern? Intense devotion to God by the individual or group brings substantial outward success. Outward success brings a sense of accomplishment and a sense of responsibility for what has been achieved – and for further achievement. For onlookers the outward success is the whole thing. The sense of accomplishment and responsibility reorient vision away from God to what ‘we’ are doing and are to do – usually to the applause and support of sympathetic people. The mission increasingly becomes the vision. It becomes what we are focused upon. The mission and ministry is what we spend our thoughts, feelings, and strength upon. Goals occupy the place of the vision of God in the inward life, and we find ourselves caught up in a visionless pursuit of various goals. Grinding it out.” Dallas Willard, Living in the Vision of God

How is it that our love for God leads to a life with God that causes us to bear so much good fruit and then have no time for God? Guess what happens when you start doing a lot of stuff for God? You are usually given even more relationships and way more opportunities…but you still only have 24 hours in a day. This is what Martha missed out on and it’s what I so often miss out on. Mary gives us a great example and so does Jesus. Listen to how Luke shows us how Jesus guarded against this.

Luke 5:15-16 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

As the demands and opportunities to serve increased exponentially, he withdrew frequently to pray and worship and connect and love His Father.

God will never call us to a life that removes the possibility of life with Him.

And it’s important how we hear the words Jesus spoke to Martha. I don’t for one second believe that Jesus spoke these words to Martha with an angry voice. See His words as invitation, not condemnation.

Jesus isn’t condemning Martha for not being better. He’s simply inviting her into something better.

Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. She wanted to give her devotion to Jesus. She could not give her devotion to Him without giving her attention to Him.

It is impossible to give our life to Jesus without giving our attention to Jesus.

There is a major difference between life with God and life for God. If we have so much to do that we can’t have a life with God, did God get something wrong or are we getting it wrong? Did He give us too much to do or have we gone beyond what He gave us to do?

“Often the pressure a spiritual leader feels comes from assuming tasks that God has not assigned; for such tasks the leader cannot expect God to supply the extra strength required.” J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership

Is it possible that you are anxious about and distracted by an assignment that God hasn’t even given to you?

Jesus cares more about you than He cares about what you can do for Him.

Even though I’m teaching this principle to you today, I often find it hard to believe. I so often believe that my standing with God depends on what I’ve done for God and others.

Mary and Martha both teach us that we are the ones who have to take ownership for what we do with our time, energy, and attention.

Mary chose the pleasure of Jesus over the displeasure of Martha.

You really do have to choose who you’re going to please and who you’re okay not pleasing.

Jesus would love your attention.

We will not be able to give Jesus our attention if we don’t build the structure and practices that will enable us to do so. We are going to need to train our attention. Just like setting out to train a weak muscle in our body, we can only exercise the attention we have today. But if we’ll train it, it will get stronger.

Practices:

- Create a time and place where your devotional life will take place. Yes, we can be in conversation with God all throughout our day…but we actually need a set apart place and time to give Him our undivided attention. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb. I have found it helpful to brew coffee, light a candle to remind me of God’s presence, begin with pure silence or playing the daily devotional from the Lectio 365 App. It’s so good; about 9-10 minutes of a prayer exercise to begin your day.

- Practice the Sabbath once a week…a day set aside to rest from your work and give extra time to enjoying your relationship with God.

- Create an “enough” line for your daily work. Declare it, tell a friend, and be accountable to it.

You have many options for what to do with your time. Pick the few you think God has for you. And make sure you choose and prioritize the one that matters most.

I wonder if Martha ever fully received everything Jesus wanted to give her. I wonder if I will ever receive everything Jesus wants to give me. I wonder if you will receive everything Jesus wants to give you.