Life With God

I'm reading the book "God is Closer than you Think" by John Ortberg. This comes from chapter 3 of that book.

"In Jesus' time on earth He relentlessly asked people to make a decision about their relationship with him. The fundamental decision involved this invitation: Follow me. Come be with me, and learn from me how to be like me. Now it is our day. Jesus has promised that He and his father will come and make their home in us, if that is what we want. For our part, the adventure of living in the presence of Jesus begins with a single decision. It can be expressed in the form of an ancient prayer. (May you always be covered by the dust of your rabbi) That is, May you follow him so closely that the dust His feet kicks up is what cakes your clothing and lines your face. Jesus himself called this decision choosing "the one thing needful".

When Jesus stayed with Martha and her sister Mary, Mary sits at His feet to learn from Him but Martha works in the kitchen and complains that she isn't getting any help. Even though she is in the same house with Him, they are worlds apart. She has proximity, but not intimacy. This story is about being with Jesus. People often assume that means that we have to stop doing in order to be in His presence. In saying that Mary "sat at the Lord's feet", it isn't just about her physical location in the room. To "sit at someone's feet" was a technical expression in ancient times to indicate the relationshiop between a disciple and a rabbi. Mary has made a fundamental decision about being with Jesus. In those times, to make someone your rabbi was fundamentally a choice about being with him. A disciple was someone who had chosen to be with his rabbi as much as possible in order to learn everything he could from him.

You can be "sitting at His feet" while kneeling in prayer, fixing your kids lunch, negotiating a contract or even watching a movie. All it requires is your asking Him to be your teacher and companion in the moment.

Dust of the rabbi represents how Jesus invites us to define the relationship: to intend to live so much in His presence that we are dusty disciples. That is the choice that Mary made. The "one thing" Mary had chosen was being with Jesus no matter what was going on around her. What if you were to wake up each morning and begin with this prayer, "Today I would like to be covered in the dust of my rabbi".

The great obstacle that keeps us from being with Jesus is distraction. Jesus says that Martha was "distracted" by all the preparations. He didn't say she was too busy or over-committed. Martha wanted to be with Jesus but she allowed herself from being with Him due to the pressure of providing hospitality. Martha is in the kitchen but doesn't have to be and Jesus doesn't want her there but she finds herself distracted. Martha wasn't doing bad things. She wasn't sinning. She was doing constructive work. She simply wasn't being with Jesus.

When Martha gets distracted from noticing and basking in His presence, she becomes worried and upset by many things. She is not defiant or rebellious, just distracted, worried, and upset.

What is it that keeps us from sitting at Jesus' feet, from being covered with the dust of the rabbi? What keeps us from living in the presence of God? Ironically, it is usually not that we have deliberately chosen to keep Him at arm's length. Many of us are like Martha. We have good intentions. We have invited Jesus into our homes. But we end up missing out on His presence - not because we have rejected Him, but because we get overwhelmed by preparations for life. We get distracted. We forget to look for Him. Sometimes in our Martha moments we live under the illusion that worry enhances our ability to control the world. Sitting at Jesus' feet does not mean passively waiting. Often Jesus' desire for us is that we will be acting, choosing, risking, stretching, and doing. But it does mean recognizing that He is present here and now and we don't have to pretend we control the universe anymore. The great danger of worries is not just that they make my life emotionally unpleasant. It is that they distract me from the presence of God in my life. They keep me upset in the kitchen instead of sitting at the feet of the One who loves me.

Part of life we may spend, as Mary did, in the living room during times of quiet and peace. But much of life will be spent "in the kitchen with Martha" - in our place of work. Your kitchen may be an office or a cubicle or a factory floor or a desk at school or a home where you watch over little children or a center where you volunteer. "The kitchen" is generally the place in our society where we are worried and upset over many things. But what if we decided to sit at Jesus' feet even there? Jesus will come into the kitchen - if we ask Him.