Living on Purpose

Dealing with Life’s Distractions

“But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”” Luke 10:40-42 NKJV

Jesus and Martha had an interesting interaction when He visited her home. Martha was understandably putting things in place for the visitors so everyone – including Jesus – would be comfortable; while her sister Mary seemed to be doing nothing, just seated at the feet of Jesus listening to everything He had to say.

If the guests were to score Martha and Mary, Martha would probably be rated higher because of her level of activity and service, yet Jesus called Martha distracted. Martha didn’t do anything wrong by working to ensure everything went well for the visitors, but there was a critical point where she missed the real purpose and focus of the meeting which was what Jesus had to share.

The word used for distraction means, “to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing”. There are many times we go through life distracted – over-occupied with life and its myriad of issues. And in the midst of the distraction we miss out on important cues the Holy Spirit is giving us concerning our lives and things around us.

This series we’re looking at 6 keys for living a focused and purposeful life so we don’t end up full of activities without tangible results to show for it. We pray that the series will help us re-direct our attention so we put our focus on what really matters. Click here to download the study.