Longing to Sit at the Feet of Jesus

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked. ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.’ ” Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)

A couple of weeks ago someone said to me, “I am proud of you trying to be a Christian but you do not know how to separate your spiritual life from real life.” I was shocked because that is NOT something I expected to hear from this person…not something one Christian would normally say to another Christian. I quickly replied, “I am not ‘trying’ to be a Christian. I AM a Christian and there cannot be any ‘separation’ of two different lives or lifestyles for a Christian. I have only one life and it is surrendered to Jesus and I am no different on Sunday morning than I am throughout the rest of the week.” This person then told me I needed to read my Bible with an open mind, and then turned and walked away. As I so often do in similar situations, I prayed for this individual then I sat there bewildered, perplexed and longed even more to seek Jesus and sit at His feet.



Are you attempting to live two separate lives…one spiritual and another deemed “real” or “large” by the world? All too often, people spend time with God at only specific times and in just certain places. They think “life” gets in the way and they become busy with other duties or interests. I have done this in my past and believe me; it does NOT work because you begin to leave the Holy Spirit and God’s presence out completely. You may be fooling yourself but you cannot fool God. It is very simple and the Bible is very plain about it. There are no gray areas. You are either a born again believer, saved by grace or you are not. You are either a Christian (a follower of Christ living in Christ’s likeness) or not. You are either totally His or not. There are no in-betweens or half-and-halfs. The qualities and characteristics of a Christian are not to be altered to fit a busy or worldly lifestyle. They are not to be placed on a shelf or to be put on hold in order to do something else. The Holy Spirit lives within a born-again believer and He intercedes for us so we may be in direct communication with God, our Father. The Holy Spirit also gives us Jesus' insight behind the words in scripture. We are to be ever conscious of the atonement for our sins and we are to remain focused and alert to the will of God throughout our entire life. In order to do this, we must spend time alone with Him. We must walk with Him. We must read and study His Word. We must talk with Him. We must listen to Him. We must pray. We must obey Him. That is how He knows we love Him. Yes, in order to truly KNOW Him and GROW in Him, we have to be in fellowship with Christ and this priority must be FIRST in our lives...EVERY DAY. We have to give Him our mind, commune with Him, seek His direction and follow His will. We have to slow down and live the life God intended. In other words, we have to give our Most High God what He deserves…our all. How? It is simple. We place Him first and we give Him our time and our solitude.

“Some of God’s children want to discover the blessedness of spiritual aloneness, to relearn the ways of solitude and simplicity. Retire from the world each day to some private spot...Stay in the secret place till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart and a sense of God's presence envelopes you. Deliberately tune out the unpleasant sounds and come out of your closet determined not to hear them. Listen for the inward Voice till you learn to recognize it...Learn to pray inwardly every moment. After a while you can do this even while you work.” ~A.W. Tozer

If you are too busy to give God time, perhaps you would be wise to contemplate A.W. Tozer’s words.

“Beware of saying, ‘I haven’t time to read the Bible or to pray’; say rather, ‘I haven’t disciplined myself to do these things.’” ~Oswald Chambers

Our Heavenly Father has supplied us with the Bread of Life and Living Water and He wants desperately to nourish us through His Word every single day. Some say, “I’ve read it, I know it,” and they pick their Bible up to carry to church on Sunday morning. Well, dear friends, God is a living God and He speaks new truths to us and reveals more of His true nature to us every day, as we read and study His Word. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, through other Christians and also through our circumstances. All we must do is slow down and give Him time. We must sit at His feet. Then He teaches us, guides us, redirects us, strengthens us and equips us for our journey each day.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom...” Colossians 3:16 (NIV)

The same person I mentioned earlier asked me today, “When are you going to be through with this writing?” I answered, “Probably never, unless God redirects me. I will not purposefully go against His calling another time in my life.”

So…
Yes, I am guarding my heart to remain captivated in Jesus.
Yes, I am guilty of tuning out, throwing out and avoiding worldly things and attitudes which rob me of His presence.
Yes, I will continue to slow down and give Him my time.
Yes, I will continue to grow in Him.

“…mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13 (NIV)

Yes, I will continue to sit at the precious feet of Jesus, my Lord and Savior.

“…Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42 (NIV)

Captured in His reflection,