Luke 10: 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; 42 But there is need of one thing, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Matt 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
How can we live a peaceful and unperturbed life? Let us see what the Lord said. He did not say that one should not work, nor did He say that one should spend half of his time working and the other half dealing with spiritual things. He did not say to Martha that it was wrong to do many things, but He reminded Martha not to let these things enter into her and disturb her. The Lord Jesus did not say that she had done too much; He said that she had considered too much. He did not say that she had taken up too many tasks; He said that she had taken up too many worries. You may work from morning until evening, but you should not be disturbed by it. Many people do not have much to do outwardly, yet they are very busy inwardly. Some people have already spent five sleepless nights worrying about work that needs to be done five days from now. Brothers and sisters, this is the Christian life. We should work and not be lazy. It is necessary to work and to be occupied, but we should be at peace within. There should only be one thing within us -- Christ. The Lord asks only one thing of us -- that we remain untouched by whatever circumstance we are in. Although we may be busy outwardly, we should maintain our fellowship with God. Thank God that there was not only a Martha but also a Mary. Mary chose the best portion -- fellowship with the Lord. The Lord wanted Martha to learn the way of inward rest from her sister, not the way of work. It is all right for us to be a Martha outwardly, but inwardly we should be like Mary, who was in complete union with the Lord. Although outwardly we can be very busy, inwardly we should fellowship with God and be at rest. This is a most precious experience. Every one of us can live this kind of life, which is not in the physical realm or in our feeling but in the depth of our being. Then we will be in constant fellowship with the Lord, living a peaceful and serene life in His presence. We must remember that God has not asked us to be lazy and do nothing. Rather, the Lord wants us to shoulder outward activities on the strength of His indwelling. Although we may be busy from morning until evening, no person or thing should deprive us of our inner peace and rest. We should be busy outwardly but peaceful inwardly. Within us there should be only one person -- Christ.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, General Messages, Vol. 37, in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, pp. 114-115. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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