Luke 10:38-42
At the Home of Martha and Mary
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 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!"
41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."
Luke 14:25-33
The Cost of Being a Disciple
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
When we listen to the conversation with Martha, we start to learn about the cost of being a Disciple of Jesus...Jesus makes it clear that it is very difficult to become a Disciple of His...He says those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples...Our daily routines and work often get in the way of Jesus...Work can be an obstacle to God...
And I am one who literally very much dislikes my day to be interrupted or changed...But as I listen to our Teacher, I can see this is a bad habit to get into...Are my daily routines without God and His Son so important as I make them out to be?...How much importance have i put on what I do each day, and is that a distraction and obstacle to the LORD?...
To walk with the LORD is tough...It takes rejection, smiling through your bad days of persecution...Jesus was rejected and persecuted...It requires helping others (and some are neighbors we really do not want to help)...But Jesus was always there to help "anybody" in need...Can we do these things?...
When I look at what Jesus told would be new Disciples, I often think that they are harsh...What is wrong with saying good-bye to your family or wanting to bury someone your know...But one excuse can easily begat another excuse...Is my work, my routine my priority in my life or is it Him?...If I do not have time for the LORD right now, that is an excuse...And that excuse is that there is not enough time in my day for Him, just right now...And if I do have a valid earthly excuse, then I need to look at my life's priorities...I think that I can make time for Him later...Or will I?...
If I am busy or doing something I feel that is important to me, then that is another excuse to delay the LORD my time with Him and then I can do something else...I find that there is always an excuse to delay or forget the LORD and being with Him on any given day...There is always something on earth to do as Martha was doing...Jesus made it clear to Martha that to follow Him, we must make a sincere effort and urgency to follow and listen to Him...And this is far more important than our daily routine and our work and our making different excuses that we have to follow our LORD...