Sitting at the Feet of Jesus

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]


If you ask my family or closest friends, they would love to tell you about all my control issues and constant need to plan everything. My life is organized by spreadsheets and to-do lists.

When my husband and I found out we were expecting our first baby (due in July!), it was no

Photo Credit: Flick User Butterfly Orbs, Creative Commons

surprise that I immediately went to Pinterest and started planning. My pregnancy board contains pins like “50 things to do while you nest & prep for a new baby,” “Weekly pregnancy to-do-list,” “8 tasks to prepare financially for your baby,” and “7 things I wish my husband knew before baby.” I went into planning mode and created at least three budget sheets for possible post-baby job situations, researched remedies for morning sickness before I even experienced it, and stocked up on pregnancy books and blogs. Before I knew it, my focus was on the giant to-do list and must-haves for our future life with this baby.

While these might all be good or useful things on their own—possibly even expected—I was putting my focus on controlling my future in any manner that I could. Planning for this baby was my everything. I lost sight of the bigger picture and the fact that God had created a sweet little miracle growing inside of my body. I forgot to make the connection between the Creator of life and His own creation. It was all about me and my life, and not about God and His plan for our lives and our new child.

As we heard from Luke 10 this week, Martha had a very similar problem. She was concerned with what was expected of her as hostess to Jesus, and not very concerned with Jesus himself. She kept busy cooking and cleaning, preparing for Jesus’s stay. When her sister Mary failed to lend a hand, Martha was upset that she was doing all the work by herself. Jesus answered her with a gentle correction:

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42).

Mary had chosen to sit at Jesus’s feet, to spend time in His presence and let her world revolve around His. So often we are like Martha, preparing and planning, only to miss what might be right in front of us. To become like Mary we cannot look toward simple “life hacks” or “50 ways to follow Jesus” in order to truly experience the fullness of God. Instead, we must spend time in relationship with the God who can satisfy our every need and accomplish true change in our lives.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

When we become new in Christ and have a relationship with Him, true change starts to trickle out into every part of our lives. We no longer need Pinterest boards or life hacks to prepare us for what might come in the future. For me, I no longer need to hide behind my controlling ways and planning tendencies; I can simply bring my fears about being a mother to God. Only he can truly calm those fears and prepare my heart for the future.

What are you putting at the center of your life? What occupies most of your time, efforts, and thoughts? Redirect your focus this week and spend some time sitting at the feet of Jesus, the only One who never disappoints and always satisfies.


[Megan Stephenson is a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University and works for a private education group in Grand Rapids as an Assistant Registrar. She loves spending time with her husband, Ben, trying out new breweries, restaurants, and local attractions. She also self-identifies as a crazy cat lady, despite owning no cats of her own, thanks to her loving and allergic husband.]