Worship Like Mary

A beautiful thought on worship from Tim Hughes in his book for worship leaders, Here I Am To Worship:

'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 said "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all 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

It's not every day that the Savior of the world pops in for tea. Mary and Martha must have been very excited. Straightaway Martha swang into action and exerted herself in all the preparations at hand. While she was rushing around doing all the work, her sister, Mary, just sat at Jesus' feet, hanging on His every word. Surely Mary was in the wrong here! Wasn't she being selfish and lazy? Eventually Martha lost her cool and turned to Jesus for help. Her question was brilliantly crafted and deserving of all sympathy and respect in the world: "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?"

The answer Martha received must have taken her by surprise. Jesus tenderly pointed out that she missed the point. The keyword in this passage is "distracted": "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made." Martha thought she was doing the right and honorable thing. There was work to be done, and she was going to do it. By working hard, she would demonstrate to Jesus how much she loved Him.

However Jesus did not desire this from her. He desired Martha's intimacy--her company. In this short story, it was Mary who chose the right thing--the one thing that was needed most. She sat at Jesus' feet and enjoyed spending time with Him, learning from Him and discovering more about Him. Jesus was delighted by this response. Mary chose to watch and fix her gaze on Jesus before she chose to work.

As worshippers, we must take note of this lesson. We are very good at doing things--organizing events, planning services and attending prayer meetings. These tasks and events are important and worthy, bu they must never come at the expense of knowing God. . .
Before we play our songs and commit to serving Jesus, we need to adore and cherish Him. Sometimes amid the pressure to succeed we lose this focus. A passage of Scripture that expresses beautifully the heart of a radical worshipper is found in Psalm 27:4:

"One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and seek him in his temple."