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Service is a word that can mean different things to different people depending on the context and manner in which it is used. For instance, we can say that “he served in the army”, or that “she was a servant for twenty years before she regained her freedom,” or that “he served as the President of the United States,” or that “she was a waiter who served tables at one of the finest restaurants in the city. In Christian circles, people say things like he served in this church for twenty years, or he faithfully served his father in the Lord, and the list goes on. When it comes to service, one is certain that service involves doing something for someone else. Service can therefore be defined as the act of providing something useful or helpful for someone else. Service-based businesses usually use phrases like “How can we be of service to you?” In other words, what can we do for you? How can we contribute to your well-being? How can we make life easier for you? The list goes on.
In scripture, we see that Jesus encourages believers to serve in Mark 10:42-44:
“Jesus called them to himself and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; But whosoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (NKJV)
You can also find similar verses on service in Matthew 20:26-28.
It is very obvious from the scriptures that Christians are meant to serve; serve others and render our services to the body in every way we can. As believers, we are supposed to live as servants of Christ, focused on doing his will and advancing the kingdom of God. In scripture, we come across an interesting story about service that helps us view service in a different light: the story of Martha and Mary. The story of Mary and Martha in the bible is a story that raises a lot of questions in the mind of the believer with regard to service. This is because, humanly speaking, Martha did what was right and responsible; the LORD Jesus Christ was visiting her house, and of course she had to honour him and prepare for him. While Mary, on the other hand, was not bothered by the service and the preparations that were going on for the guests. All she was after was listening to Jesus teach.
In the story, we come across Martha asking for help with service. Frankly speaking, you can’t blame her for asking for Mary’s help; more hands meant the work would move faster. However, we see Jesus tell Martha she was worried about so many things, but Mary had chosen what is needful. Does this mean that what Martha was doing was not necessary or important? So many thoughts run across a person’s mind regarding service in the story of Martha and her sister Mary, one of which is the issue of timing. What time would have been perfect for Martha to make preparations and attend to her guests? Because from all indications Jesus’ visit wasn’t planned, “Now it happened that as they went that he entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house” (Luke 10:38).
It looks like Martha didn’t have prior notice of Jesus coming to her town, but she decided to be hospitable and welcome him to her home. There was no other time to make preparations for her guests and serve them, or so it seemed. It was either she wouldn’t have been able to serve her guests because she would be listening to Jesus teach, or she would not host them at all and listen to Jesus teach. From Martha’s story in the bible, we see that service to God can clash with time of fellowship and intimacy with God. She found herself in a situation where she not only had things to do when it was time to listen to God, but the things she had to do were FOR GOD. Scripture was clear in Mary and Martha’s story that it is more important to spend time talking with God than to spend time serving him. The point of this article is not that serving God isn’t important, but that time spent serving should not interfere with time that should be spent in intimacy with God. Actively rendering service to God while prioritizing a life of fellowship and intimacy with God is difficult but not impossible.
Martha was most likely trying to finish making preparations and serving before she sat down to listen to Jesus, but then she got so frustrated in the process and exclaimed, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.”
At this point, she was probably overwhelmed with all that she had to do. The truth is, leaving all the service that needed to be done and deciding to sit at the master’s feet wouldn’t have taken the burden of hosting off her. She would probably have served the guests after she was done listening to what the Lord was saying. Service would not always be convenient and would require sacrifices, and the same goes for spending time with God. Spending time with God is more important and should never be compromised. It would be a sad thing to be actively doing things for God and at the same time, drift away from him. It would be a sad thing to be serving God and not know the God you are serving. Learn to embrace the discomfort. Going further into Martha’s story, we see that in the course of service, she eventually had to make a choice. In Luke 10:42, Jesus told Martha, “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Mary chose right, and it was a choice Martha was lovingly invited to make as well.
As believers, we have so many options; however, only one thing is needful, and that is prioritizing time with God. This involves spending time in prayer and reading God’s word. Of a truth, a lot of the choices we would have to make as believers would not be easy. I can only imagine how hard it would be to have important guests that I am not done preparing for, but instead decide to sit down and listen to what God has to say. At the end of the day, as believers, one thing is needful; other things are important but not needful. As believers engaged in active service of our heavenly Father, we mustn’t sacrifice what is needed for what is important.
Another thing that comes into play in Martha’s story is how being a responsible person and taking on responsibility in the course of service to God can tamper with your walk with God. Truthfully speaking, responsibility can distract a person from being focused on what is happening at the moment. A person carrying the weight of responsibility can be so distracted by what needs to be done that they miss out on the amazing things happening right in front of them. Martha, being the host, was obviously responsible for taking care of her guests, and she was trying her absolute best to be a good host; however, in the course of carrying out her responsibilities, she was missing out on spending time with Jesus, the very person who came to visit her home. Spending time with Jesus should come before any other thing. It’s good to be a responsible child of God, but it shouldn’t cost you your time with God. Servants of God also have the responsibility to always make time to spend time with God, irrespective of how busy they are.
From Martha’s Story, we also see that when we’re spending time with Jesus, we need to give him our undivided attention to make the most of our time with him. While Martha was busy making preparations, Mary, on the other hand, had ignored all that had to be done and was listening to Jesus speak. Martha probably convinced herself that she could still hear what Jesus was saying as she went about making preparations. Stillness; ignoring all distractions, giving him all your focus and undivided attention, is necessary when it comes to developing an intimate relationship with the father and making the most of your time spent with God. It’s very easy to get carried away doing work and service for the master and in the process neglect time of fellowship and intimacy with the master, dwelling on the word, meditating, studying, praying and knowing him more and more. If there’s one thing we can draw from Martha’s story, it’s the fact that we should not allow our acts of service to stop us from sitting still at the master’s feet. Another person would have probably rebuked Mary for not helping her sister when they had important guests, but not Jesus. He said Mary had chosen that which could not be taken from her. Service is important, but what is most important is spending time with God.
A lot of us tend to get carried away serving and being busy for God or chasing other endeavors that we can’t hear God speak. From Martha’s story, we learn that it’s important to put everything aside and give God our undivided attention. Time with God should be just that;time spent with him. Stillness, the act of putting everything else aside and sitting still before our heavenly father, should be a common practice in the life of every believer. The truth is we can never fully maximize time with God if we’re always carried away doing something else. It’s usually difficult to hear God clearly when you’re not giving him your undivided attention.
In closing. No matter how busy life gets or how important all the things we have to do are, always prioritize spending time with your heavenly father. We can see a perfect example in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who spent a lot of time teaching large crowds, performing miracles, teaching his disciples and moving from one town to another, but always created time to pray. There were instances where he told his disciples to go ahead of him just so he could have some time alone with the heavenly father. The average believer is not half as busy as Jesus was during his time on earth. On some occasions he even taught for days at a stretch, but even that didn’t stop him from making time to talk to God in private, and this was God himself in human form. This shows how important it is for a believer to spend time with God, no matter how busy they are with God’s work or any other business. I’ll leave you with this, the lyrics of a song that sums up what I’ve been saying throughout this write-up.
How is your inner mind?
How is your prayer life?
How much of the Word of God do you have in your heart,
Or you’re just busy for him?