Today’s devotion reminds us that moving efficiently does not equal wisdom
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Scripture: Luke 10:38-42
As they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him and said, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.’ Jesus answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.’
The Pressure I Feel
I feel pressured to live in the next moment, as if I will be left behind if I am fully present in this one.
The Grace I Receive
Jesus meets me in the present moment, where intimacy with God and honest self-understanding can begin.
Reflection
Hurry often pretends to be wisdom. It tells us we are being responsible. It says we are getting ready. It says we are staying ahead. It says we are making sure we are not left out or left behind.
But hurry does something to the soul. It pulls us out of the moment we are actually living. We start thinking about the next task before we have finished this one. We start worrying about the next change before we have discerned this one. We start imagining the next problem before we have received grace for today.
The pressure underneath hurry is often fear. The fear of being left out. The fear of being too slow. The fear that if we do not keep up, we will lose our place. That fear can live in work, technology, ministry, family, money, and even spiritual growth. It can make us believe that faithfulness is always somewhere just ahead of us.
Then we meet Martha.
Martha is not careless. She is serving. She is trying to do what needs to be done. But Luke says she is distracted with much serving. Jesus says she is anxious and troubled about many things.
Many of us know that place. We are not trying to do wrong. We are trying to hold everything together. But the soul becomes scattered. We become so pulled toward what needs to happen next that we miss the presence of Christ in the room.
Mary sits and listens. She is present. Jesus does not call that laziness. He calls it the good part.
That matters for The Formed Future because the future will always offer another next thing. Another headline. Another tool. Another warning. Another opportunity. Another strategy. Another reason to speed up. But the next moment is not where intimacy with God happens. God meets us here.
The present moment is where we learn to listen. It is where we notice what is happening inside us. It is where we hear the word of Christ. It is where we become honest enough to know whether we are serving from love or from anxiety.
Hurry will not make us wiser. It may make us faster. It may make us more informed. It may make us look productive. But wisdom grows in a soul that can be present with God.
The future does not become clearer when we abandon the present. The formed future begins when we stop letting the next moment steal the grace of this one.
Formation Practice
Today, choose one ordinary moment and refuse to rush through it.
It may be drinking coffee, walking to your car, answering an email, washing dishes, opening Scripture, or sitting before your work begins.
Before you move to the next thing, pause and pray: Jesus, meet me in this moment.
Then notice what is true. What do you feel? What are you carrying? What are you trying to outrun? What would it mean to be present to Christ here?
Prayer of Formation
Lord Jesus,
I am often anxious and troubled about many things. I live too much in the next moment. I rush because I am afraid of being left behind. Teach me to sit with You in the moment I actually have. Help me receive the good part that cannot be taken away. Form presence in me where hurry has been ruling me.
– Amen
Carry Prayer
Breathe in: Jesus, meet me here…
Breathe out: … not only in what comes next
Formed Future Statement
I do not have to live in the next moment to be faithful in this one.
Which line from today’s devotion are you carrying with you? You are welcome to share it in the comments.