My Messy Kitchen
"You expected much, but see it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house." Haggai 1:9
I don't know if I have ever really understood that verse, and probably I really never will, but today a new aspect of that verse hit me. Before I get to that, let's look at a couple of other passages of Scripture.
In Luke chapter 10 we read the very familiar passage of Scripture where Jesus is at the home of Mary and Martha. While Jesus was in their home, Mary and Martha responded very differently. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and gave him her full attention while Martha scurried around busy with all the work that came with Jesus' arrival into her home. If I were to be completely honest I would have to admit how tired I am of hearing messages and reading books about how Martha missed out because she was so busy; and how she should have been like her sister Mary who maximized Jesus' visit by sitting at his feet. There are a couple of reasons why I am tired of hearing this. The first one is because it wasn't that Martha was busy that she is corrected by the Lord, it is actually because her busyness made her anxious and worried. In fact Scripture says she was distracted by the things that needed to be done. (Luke 10:40) But the other reason that I start to feel a little sick when this passage of Scripture comes up, is because I honestly just can't seem to figure out how to handle the problem of being busy.
We are busy people. We work, and we take care of homes, yards, cars, finances, pets, kids, husbands and every chore that comes with them. At every stage of life we just can't imagine how we could be busier, and then that next stage comes and amazingly, we get busier! I KNOW that I need to make more time to spend with Jesus; it is just DOING it that is hard! Is there anybody out there that can relate with me on this? How DO you sit at Jesus' feet when you know that there is no toilet paper on the roll, the floor is covered with dirt and dog hair, somehow food needs to appear from somewhere and your kitchen sink is piled high with dirty dishes? Who wouldn't be anxious at that moment? Or sweating a little at least! But remember, Scripture does NOT say that Jesus corrected Martha for attending to those details, it says that he addressed her distraction and anxiety in regard to them.
I love to have people in my home. I love to cook and eat a delicious meal and then "recline" at the table with a good cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation of those who have come to my house. Many times, I will be in the kitchen furiously finishing up the meal when the guests arrive. I have to admit, my anxiety level rises just a bit when the food isn't done and we have a limited time to spend with our guests. But to correct that timing issue, I love to invite the guests into the kitchen to have something to drink and chat with me there. I have learned that it is ok to invite my guests into my "messiness" (hey, cooking in my kitchen is not always a clean event!) so that I can enjoy their company. One more passage of Scripture.
In Matthew 14 we find the familiar story of Jesus "feeding the five thousand." The setting of the story is that Jesus, though trying to find some privacy, is mobbed by crowds of people who had heard that he was performing miracles and healing people. The needs were great, and Scripture says that Jesus "had compassion on them and healed their sick." (Matt 14:14) In Matthew 14:21 (and in Luke 9:14) we see that about 5 thousand MEN were there, not including women and children! It was getting late and the people were hungry, so Jesus performed a miracle by multiplying a small amount of fish and bread, making it so that every person had their FILL to eat! Can you imagine being one of the disciples at that moment? They must have felt some ANXIETY when Jesus instructed them to feed all of those people! But the EXHILARATION they must have experienced to be a part of such an astounding miracle! Priscilla Shirer, in her book "He Speaks to Me" makes a point about how interesting she finds it that we see no record of the disciples actually eating in this story. She goes on to point out that we find the disciples passing out food, and picking up leftovers but that they missed out on the eating part. Her point? The disciples were too busy to get fed themselves. That statement got a rise out of me. First of all, just because Scripture does not record that the disciples didn't eat, doesn't mean they didn't! But mostly, it just touched on that "too busy nerve" inside of me. How do I reconcile it? I go round and round on that question.
There is so much blessing in serving! When I think back to the most meaningful experiences I have had with God, MOST of them have been tied to being USED by Him! Seeing Him heal someone, laying my hands on someone and watching them be set free from something, sharing a "word" that God has laid on my heart for someone and seeing it "hit home!" I can only imagine how cool it was to be a disciple that evening, and place your hands on the food that just kept on coming; to deliver it to the mouths of hungry people, to see them re-fueled and sustained by it, and to know that YOU WERE JUST A PART OF A MIRACLE! Maybe it is just me, but I would gladly give up a meal to be a part of that! You see, there is blessing in serving! There is life in being used by God Almighty to touch someone else! It is GOOD to be used by God, and I think it is safe to say we all want that! We are still on this earth for something, why not have it be something that is truly worthwhile? The danger though, in serving, is when we get distracted.
And that is where Martha made her mistake. She was DISTRACTED by the preparations that needed to be made. She was distracted by the things that weren't ready yet, or maybe the messiness that needed to be cleaned up before the guest of honor saw it. I think the first question we I have to ask is, what is your current level of distraction? Maybe we should look at it in more current terms. When we look at a day in our lives, and all that demands to be accomplished, do we feel anxious? Not occasionally anxious, we all feel that! I mean the kind of anxiety that allows for NO ROOM to spend time with Jesus? Sometimes I just can't stop. I am being brutally honest here. It might be 11 pm and I have to go switch one more load of laundry, and put dates on that stack of photos so I don't forget, and shoot off one more email, and sweep...and on and on, because I convince myself that if I don't do it today it will be waiting for me tomorrow. I know there are a lot of you who can relate. The problem isn't that I feel the need to get stuff done, the problem is when my "need" to get stuff done supersedes my need to spend time with God; and when I drop into bed late at night and am too tired to read my Bible, or I can't get up in the morning to pray because I was up too late, well that is a problem. You see, my current level of distraction, I would say, is high. And the result is I am missing out on being "fed" by Jesus. I truly don't think that Jesus is expecting me to sell everything and move to cabin on a mountain with no contact with other humans. I DO think he understands that I have a busy schedule, and I DO think he wants me to invite Him into my messy kitchen. Do you understand? You can spend time with God while running, while washing dishes and while folding clothes. You can also spend time with him in the midst of despair and desolation. You can let him see your hurts and frustrations because he can handle our messiness, we don't have to clean it all up first! That is hard for me! I want everything to look nice before my guest arrives, but he wants me to stop wasting my time making everything perfect so I don't miss the time I can spend with him!
The other question I have to ask is what is your current level of serving? It is important to serve, in fact, often we are most changed in our serving! But our serving can be at unhealthy levels! If our serving level is too low, we become lazy Christians...always looking for the next meal. Feed me feed me feed me, or I go somewhere where someone will! Has anyone ever told you that it is your job to feed yourself? And the church's job is to equip you for the work of ministry; of serving the body of Christ and those that are lost. There is also too much serving. I remember a guy in his 20's at our last church who loved to serve. He would jump in and volunteer for everything. At first I thought that was so great, until I noticed that any time there was a chance to pray, or worship, or really press into God, this guy FOUND something to do. He filled a lot of holes, but he missed just about every chance to spend time with God; and he isn't serving God today. Our serving can become something we hide behind. We can be so uncomfortable spending time one on one with Jesus, that we can come up with more stuff in the kitchen that needs to be done; and then we complain that we aren't getting fed or that no one is helping us. See Martha's story if you don't believe me.
Of course I have to say it; we DO have to find time to be still. To shut off the phone, avoid the distraction of email and tv and chores and just spend some GOOD time with God. If you read the story immediately following the one where Jesus feeds the five thousand, you see what he does next. Matthew 14:22 & 23 says that "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray." Don't miss the fact that Jesus, while on the way to spend time praying, saw the overwhelming needs of the people and met the needs. AND THEN he continued on to spend time alone with his father God. It is going to happen to us too; probably today. We are going to have the best intentions to spend time with God and something will come up, something "urgent." So meet the necessary need, and then go spend time with God.
So why did I start with that verse in Haggai? Because I finally got it. All of my careful planning and scheduling, everything that I expect to be "much", all of my earnings, and attempts and efforts, they always fall short. And the reason that they fall short? Because He comes first. And if I don't make time for Him, if I under-serve and put myself first, or if I over-serve and put everybody else first, He will blow it all away. He will cause me to have to rely on HIM because He just wants me to make time for Him. Let this be my renewed vow to do that.
For Further Study
* Read Haggai 1:1-11. Write down the things that the people try to do to "make it" on their own. Write down God's response to that.
*Read Matthew 14:1-36 What is the reason that Jesus needed to go and be alone with God?
Write down what stands out to you in the two stories where Jesus performed miracles.
*Read Luke 10:38-42 in a different translation of the Bible than you normally do. Look for
something you have never noticed before.
Your Assignment
Post to the group where you feel you are at on the distraction scale, and on the serving scale. This does not require explanation, though you can explain if you would like. This is good accountability for all of you, to evaluate and honestly share. I was honest so you can be too.
Post anything else you have learned recently.
I don't know if I have ever really understood that verse, and probably I really never will, but today a new aspect of that verse hit me. Before I get to that, let's look at a couple of other passages of Scripture.
In Luke chapter 10 we read the very familiar passage of Scripture where Jesus is at the home of Mary and Martha. While Jesus was in their home, Mary and Martha responded very differently. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and gave him her full attention while Martha scurried around busy with all the work that came with Jesus' arrival into her home. If I were to be completely honest I would have to admit how tired I am of hearing messages and reading books about how Martha missed out because she was so busy; and how she should have been like her sister Mary who maximized Jesus' visit by sitting at his feet. There are a couple of reasons why I am tired of hearing this. The first one is because it wasn't that Martha was busy that she is corrected by the Lord, it is actually because her busyness made her anxious and worried. In fact Scripture says she was distracted by the things that needed to be done. (Luke 10:40) But the other reason that I start to feel a little sick when this passage of Scripture comes up, is because I honestly just can't seem to figure out how to handle the problem of being busy.
We are busy people. We work, and we take care of homes, yards, cars, finances, pets, kids, husbands and every chore that comes with them. At every stage of life we just can't imagine how we could be busier, and then that next stage comes and amazingly, we get busier! I KNOW that I need to make more time to spend with Jesus; it is just DOING it that is hard! Is there anybody out there that can relate with me on this? How DO you sit at Jesus' feet when you know that there is no toilet paper on the roll, the floor is covered with dirt and dog hair, somehow food needs to appear from somewhere and your kitchen sink is piled high with dirty dishes? Who wouldn't be anxious at that moment? Or sweating a little at least! But remember, Scripture does NOT say that Jesus corrected Martha for attending to those details, it says that he addressed her distraction and anxiety in regard to them.
I love to have people in my home. I love to cook and eat a delicious meal and then "recline" at the table with a good cup of coffee and enjoy the conversation of those who have come to my house. Many times, I will be in the kitchen furiously finishing up the meal when the guests arrive. I have to admit, my anxiety level rises just a bit when the food isn't done and we have a limited time to spend with our guests. But to correct that timing issue, I love to invite the guests into the kitchen to have something to drink and chat with me there. I have learned that it is ok to invite my guests into my "messiness" (hey, cooking in my kitchen is not always a clean event!) so that I can enjoy their company. One more passage of Scripture.
In Matthew 14 we find the familiar story of Jesus "feeding the five thousand." The setting of the story is that Jesus, though trying to find some privacy, is mobbed by crowds of people who had heard that he was performing miracles and healing people. The needs were great, and Scripture says that Jesus "had compassion on them and healed their sick." (Matt 14:14) In Matthew 14:21 (and in Luke 9:14) we see that about 5 thousand MEN were there, not including women and children! It was getting late and the people were hungry, so Jesus performed a miracle by multiplying a small amount of fish and bread, making it so that every person had their FILL to eat! Can you imagine being one of the disciples at that moment? They must have felt some ANXIETY when Jesus instructed them to feed all of those people! But the EXHILARATION they must have experienced to be a part of such an astounding miracle! Priscilla Shirer, in her book "He Speaks to Me" makes a point about how interesting she finds it that we see no record of the disciples actually eating in this story. She goes on to point out that we find the disciples passing out food, and picking up leftovers but that they missed out on the eating part. Her point? The disciples were too busy to get fed themselves. That statement got a rise out of me. First of all, just because Scripture does not record that the disciples didn't eat, doesn't mean they didn't! But mostly, it just touched on that "too busy nerve" inside of me. How do I reconcile it? I go round and round on that question.
There is so much blessing in serving! When I think back to the most meaningful experiences I have had with God, MOST of them have been tied to being USED by Him! Seeing Him heal someone, laying my hands on someone and watching them be set free from something, sharing a "word" that God has laid on my heart for someone and seeing it "hit home!" I can only imagine how cool it was to be a disciple that evening, and place your hands on the food that just kept on coming; to deliver it to the mouths of hungry people, to see them re-fueled and sustained by it, and to know that YOU WERE JUST A PART OF A MIRACLE! Maybe it is just me, but I would gladly give up a meal to be a part of that! You see, there is blessing in serving! There is life in being used by God Almighty to touch someone else! It is GOOD to be used by God, and I think it is safe to say we all want that! We are still on this earth for something, why not have it be something that is truly worthwhile? The danger though, in serving, is when we get distracted.
And that is where Martha made her mistake. She was DISTRACTED by the preparations that needed to be made. She was distracted by the things that weren't ready yet, or maybe the messiness that needed to be cleaned up before the guest of honor saw it. I think the first question we I have to ask is, what is your current level of distraction? Maybe we should look at it in more current terms. When we look at a day in our lives, and all that demands to be accomplished, do we feel anxious? Not occasionally anxious, we all feel that! I mean the kind of anxiety that allows for NO ROOM to spend time with Jesus? Sometimes I just can't stop. I am being brutally honest here. It might be 11 pm and I have to go switch one more load of laundry, and put dates on that stack of photos so I don't forget, and shoot off one more email, and sweep...and on and on, because I convince myself that if I don't do it today it will be waiting for me tomorrow. I know there are a lot of you who can relate. The problem isn't that I feel the need to get stuff done, the problem is when my "need" to get stuff done supersedes my need to spend time with God; and when I drop into bed late at night and am too tired to read my Bible, or I can't get up in the morning to pray because I was up too late, well that is a problem. You see, my current level of distraction, I would say, is high. And the result is I am missing out on being "fed" by Jesus. I truly don't think that Jesus is expecting me to sell everything and move to cabin on a mountain with no contact with other humans. I DO think he understands that I have a busy schedule, and I DO think he wants me to invite Him into my messy kitchen. Do you understand? You can spend time with God while running, while washing dishes and while folding clothes. You can also spend time with him in the midst of despair and desolation. You can let him see your hurts and frustrations because he can handle our messiness, we don't have to clean it all up first! That is hard for me! I want everything to look nice before my guest arrives, but he wants me to stop wasting my time making everything perfect so I don't miss the time I can spend with him!
The other question I have to ask is what is your current level of serving? It is important to serve, in fact, often we are most changed in our serving! But our serving can be at unhealthy levels! If our serving level is too low, we become lazy Christians...always looking for the next meal. Feed me feed me feed me, or I go somewhere where someone will! Has anyone ever told you that it is your job to feed yourself? And the church's job is to equip you for the work of ministry; of serving the body of Christ and those that are lost. There is also too much serving. I remember a guy in his 20's at our last church who loved to serve. He would jump in and volunteer for everything. At first I thought that was so great, until I noticed that any time there was a chance to pray, or worship, or really press into God, this guy FOUND something to do. He filled a lot of holes, but he missed just about every chance to spend time with God; and he isn't serving God today. Our serving can become something we hide behind. We can be so uncomfortable spending time one on one with Jesus, that we can come up with more stuff in the kitchen that needs to be done; and then we complain that we aren't getting fed or that no one is helping us. See Martha's story if you don't believe me.
Of course I have to say it; we DO have to find time to be still. To shut off the phone, avoid the distraction of email and tv and chores and just spend some GOOD time with God. If you read the story immediately following the one where Jesus feeds the five thousand, you see what he does next. Matthew 14:22 & 23 says that "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray." Don't miss the fact that Jesus, while on the way to spend time praying, saw the overwhelming needs of the people and met the needs. AND THEN he continued on to spend time alone with his father God. It is going to happen to us too; probably today. We are going to have the best intentions to spend time with God and something will come up, something "urgent." So meet the necessary need, and then go spend time with God.
So why did I start with that verse in Haggai? Because I finally got it. All of my careful planning and scheduling, everything that I expect to be "much", all of my earnings, and attempts and efforts, they always fall short. And the reason that they fall short? Because He comes first. And if I don't make time for Him, if I under-serve and put myself first, or if I over-serve and put everybody else first, He will blow it all away. He will cause me to have to rely on HIM because He just wants me to make time for Him. Let this be my renewed vow to do that.
For Further Study
* Read Haggai 1:1-11. Write down the things that the people try to do to "make it" on their own. Write down God's response to that.
*Read Matthew 14:1-36 What is the reason that Jesus needed to go and be alone with God?
Write down what stands out to you in the two stories where Jesus performed miracles.
*Read Luke 10:38-42 in a different translation of the Bible than you normally do. Look for
something you have never noticed before.
Your Assignment
Post to the group where you feel you are at on the distraction scale, and on the serving scale. This does not require explanation, though you can explain if you would like. This is good accountability for all of you, to evaluate and honestly share. I was honest so you can be too.
Post anything else you have learned recently.
posted by Di Beals | 1:17 PM
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