Evening, January 24
Go To Morning Reading
“Martha was cumbered about much serving.”
Luke 10:40
Her fault was not that she served : the condition of a servant well becomes every Christian. “I serve,” should be the motto of all the princes of the royal family of heaven.
Nor was it her fault that she had “ much serving.” We cannot do too much. Let us do all that we possibly can; let head,
and heart, and hands, be engaged in the Master’s service. It was no fault of hers that she was busy preparing a feast
for the Master. Happy Martha, to have an opportunity of entertaining
so blessed a guest; and happy, too, to have the spirit to throw her
whole soul so heartily into the engagement. Her fault was that she
grew “ cumbered with much serving,” so that she forgot him , and only remembered the service. She allowed service to override
communion, and so presented one duty stained with the blood of another.
We ought to be Martha and Mary in one: we should do much service,
and have much communion at the same time. For this we need great grace.
It is easier to serve than to commune. Joshua never grew weary in
fighting with the Amalekites; but Moses, on the top of the mountain
in prayer, needed two helpers to sustain his hands. The more spiritual
the exercise, the sooner we tire in it. The choicest fruits are the
hardest to rear: the most heavenly graces are the most difficult to
cultivate. Beloved, while we do not neglect external things, which
are good enough in themselves, we ought also to see to it that we
enjoy living, personal fellowship with Jesus. See to it that sitting
at the Saviour’s feet is not neglected, even though it be under the specious pretext
of doing him service. The first thing for our soul’s health, the first thing for his glory, and the first thing for our
own usefulness, is to keep ourselves in perpetual communion with the
Lord Jesus, and to see that the vital spirituality of our religion
is maintained over and above everything else in the world.