3 Signs You're Too Distracted to Hear God's Voice

Are you so busy doing "good things" that you're missing Jesus completely?

In this powerful solo episode, we dive deep into one of the most misunderstood stories in the Bible: Mary and Martha. When Jesus said "Martha, Martha," it wasn't just a correction—it was a wake-up call for all of us drowning in busyness, distraction, and doing things that "need to be done." If you've ever felt like you're running on empty while serving God, this message will gut-punch you in the best way possible.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL DISCOVER:

• Why Jesus calls certain people's names TWICE in the Bible—and what it means when He does (Abraham, Moses, Simon Peter, and more)

• The real reason Martha was distracted (hint: she was doing what culturally HAD to be done, just like many of us today)

• Three things that happen when we ignore the presence of Jesus—even while doing "ministry work"

• Why being busy for God is NOT the same as being close to God, and how to tell the difference

• The one thing Jesus says is needed above everything else—and how to actually prioritize it in our chaotic lives

THIS MESSAGE IS FOR: The saints AND the ain'ts. Whether you're deep in church ministry or questioning if following Christ is even for you. If you're exhausted from doing all the "right things" but still feel distant from God, this episode will help you find your way back to His feet.

Transcript

Doing What Must Be Done

SPEAKER_01 0:00

And women, particularly black women, doing what has to be done is our jam. Baby, if a black woman don't do nothing else, she's gonna do what gotta be done. And I and I I really want to encourage you specifically to stop and look around for where Jesus is in your life and go to him. See, Martha had an opportunity to sit at the feet of Jesus just like her sister Mary did. Same opportunity, right? And instead of taking that opportunity, she grew resentful and annoyed with her sister for doing what was right. And this is what happens when Jesus is in our midst and we miss him. What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of I'll Just Let Myself In, the podcast where we don't wait for an imaginary permission slip or some seat at an imaginary table. We let ourselves into our God-given doors. And this week we got another solo episode for you guys where I'll be talking about something that I think is going to be super important for our maturation uh as Christians, but also just, man, really getting through tough times, times that could be distracting, times where there's a lot going on, but you still want to make sure that you're rooted in your mental health, you're rooted in your spiritual space, you're rooted in your self-care, but not forgetting to keep the main thing, the main thing, which is our relationship with God. You know, we haven't been doing that many what I'm stepping ins, and I'm gonna keep that going today because, you know, I want to save some of my heat for, you know, when we have some guests and when we have some people, I got some sneaker people coming on the podcast coming up. So I'm excited to roll with them and do what I'm stepping in there. But we're gonna get right into it today. And the title of this episode is Into Your Calling. But what I've been studying out recently that has really started to prick my mind, my imagination, my idea of what a calling looks like is when God is calling your name again. See, we've been called, many of us before, and sometimes God is calling you again in the sense of time, but there's also times where God is calling you again back to back. He is saying your name twice. And so I heard someone preach, uh, and they this was like a snippet of their sermon. And I was like, whoa, I gotta study that out. And what he was preaching about was when God called Moses and he said, Moses, Moses. So I said, let me go and check in the Bible where God calls people's name twice back to back. And when I tell y'all this study is encouraging my soul, and I believe that it's gonna do the same for you guys. You know, there is uh a lot that we can learn from God calling our name twice. And this is for the saints and the ain't, right? The people who are following God, trying their best, and the people who are like, I don't know if this is for me. It's a lot. Y'all Christians want a lot, y'all church folks want a lot, y'all want me to be there every week, y'all want me to change my life all in one felt swoop. This is a lot. Uh, but there's something in you that still is like, man, but I actually do want to follow Christ. I actually do want to do better than I'm currently doing. This is for all of us. And I think it's a special theme because there are different ways that I believe the father and son wanted us to feel, or one of the people that they called twice to feel in different scenarios. So I feel special. I'm excited about it. I think that in the Old Testament, you see God the Father call names twice in one sentiment, and then in the New Test Testament, you see Jesus call certain names twice under a different sentiment. And uh, I think us studying out together is gonna be fun. So we're gonna talk about a couple of different examples of this in the Old Testament and then in the New Testament, and then we're gonna park on the example that I think will resonate most with you guys, my listeners and viewers, and that resonated the most with me because y'all know I don't try to get up here and tell y'all nothing that ain't real for me as well. But I I was so taken aback reading this because God loves us so much, y'all. Like He will do whatever it takes to get our attention. God would go so hard to get our attention that he would even say our names once, let alone twice, is amazing. And so here's some examples that I felt really touched me. Uh in Genesis 20 to 11, and I'm just gonna go through these until we park on the one we're gonna talk about today. Genesis 22, 11, God says, Abraham, Abraham. And this is when Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac. And so God is is is getting his attention. He's saying his name twice to get his attention, um, as intervention, as a promise keeper, uh, as a as a part of covenant. He's like, Abraham, Abraham, I got you, right? Later on in Genesis, in Genesis 46, verse 2, in a vision, God says, Jacob, Jacob. He's he's letting him know that, hey, this is a sign that that what I'm encouraging you to do in this vision is is indeed my plan. You need to go ahead and go to Egypt. Uh, he's calling his name somewhat to comfort him, to reassure him. That's the word I'm looking for. He's calling his name for reassurance. So calling his name more than once for reassurance in the example of Jacob. Then we see Moses, Moses. And this is from the burning bush. That's in Exodus 3, uh, verse 4. Moses, Moses. This was about instruction. This was, I am getting ready to give you something to do. He called him twice from a burning bush. And that's a that'll preach in and of itself. The person who preached it didn't even go here. But sometime God has to set a bush on fire and still call you twice. That's us as people. You know what I mean? Like the burning bush wasn't enough to get his attention. Called them twice. Moses, Moses. Another example in 1 Samuel 3:10, when God says Samuel, Samuel, he's revealing himself clearly to Samuel. And it is the beginning of Samuel's prophetic ministry. Going into the New Testament in the book of Luke, in chapter 22, verse 31, Jesus says, Simon Simon. And this is a very popular scripture. It's when Jesus lets him know that the devil has asked to sift him like wheat. He says, Simon, Simon. And this we see compassion, we see warning, right? We see uh the love of a friend saying, Simon, Simon. Uh in Acts 9, verse 4, we hear Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And this starts the conversion of Saul. This is a check. Uh uh, Jesus is checking him, and sometimes Jesus is calling you twice because it's the end of what you're into. I want to preach so bad, but I'm not going to. We're here, we're on a podcast. This is this is beautiful stuff, guys. And then lastly, before we get into where we're gonna park, in Matthew 23, verse 37, the Bible says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. And I think this one is so unique because it's a place and it represents a sorrow and a longing for the people to do better. It's like when you say someone's name twice, like, nah, come on, like you, you can do better. But it's also a grief for where they were and for wanting a place and a space to know that they can grow and that God is still with them. And last but not least, the place we're gonna park today, and my favorite example of Jesus calling someone twice is in Luke 10, verse 41, where he says, Martha, Martha. You know, this is a very famous passage of scripture, particularly for women. We we get we talk about this one a lot. And in this scripture, Jesus is both correcting but also showing compassion to someone who has just missed his presence completely. And you know, I want to park on Martha Martha, because I feel like in this season of our lives, not just particularly women, as a country, as people, we we are extremely distracted. And I think Jesus is saying, Alicia, Alicia, your name, your name, right? He's saying, Hey, I'm here and you're missing me because you're so distracted by the world around you and the things that need to get done. Let me grab my Bible. So we uh pick up in Luke 10 in verse 38, where the story of Mary and Martha begins. And this is a story that I have been reading since I was a very little girl. I think that in different generations, this story has taken on different meanings, but it is more relevant to me now than ever because the amount of things that we have to be distracted by in our generation is by far the most any generation had. You know, when TV became a thing, people were like, oh, you're looking at the tube all day. And I'm sure when radio came out, that was a distraction. Now we have radio, TV, streaming, social media, on top of work, on top of our busy schedules with the extracurricular thing. If you have children in church and all the things, and we can get so caught up doing good things, even good things for God, that we miss the presence of Jesus altogether. In Luke 10, verse 38, the Bible says, 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 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. This is an incredible passage of scripture. There's so much in it. It's such a small story, such a short story, but there is so much in this story and in the fact that Jesus says Martha's name twice. First of all, Martha is not altogether wrong. Let me just say that, right? It says that Martha was distracted not by social media, not by video games, not by self-care, not by talking on the phone while she was distracted by the preparations that what had to be made, the Bible says. Not that should be made, that could have been made. The Bible says she was distracted by the preparations that had to be made. Some versions say needed to be made. And in a lot of what we are distracted by today, some of it is very, very real, right? This is not just trivial things that that speak to a lack of discipline. Some of the things you're distracted by are things that are very, very real, things that need to be done. Traditionally, Martha was right. She was not being petty by complaining to Jesus. She was not, you know, just annoyed with her sister, so she was complaining. Traditionally, she was right. She was where she was supposed to be. Traditionally, she was exactly where she was supposed to be, but she missed sitting at the feet of Jesus because of it. You might be traditionally where you're supposed to be. You might be in the career you're traditionally supposed to be in. You might be in the friend circle you're supposed to be in. You might be in the church you're supposed to be in. The question is, are you missing the presence of Jesus when it's right in front of you because you are distracted? I, when I tell you this thing gut-punched me because I am, I don't know if I would categorize myself as a busybody, but I like to get things done and I like to be moving and shaken, right? I like to see progress. I hate feeling like I'm not making progress. I also really do like to be what I call on the right side of history. So it is difficult for me to make choices sometimes because I think so deeply about the choice I'm making, about where I'm going, about what I'm saying, about all these different things. And I I realized recently while I was studying this out, or as I've been studying this out, I should say, I have been distracted at times. And Jesus was sitting right in my presence because he's always there, willing to give me the answers and the help I need, but I was just walking back and forth right past him because I had things that needed to be done. She was doing what women specifically was supposed to do, right? Like she was doing what had to be done. And and women, particularly black women, doing what has to be done is our jam. Baby, if a black woman don't do nothing else, she's gonna do what gotta be done. And I and I I really want to encourage you specifically to stop and look around for where Jesus is in your life and go to him. See, Martha had an opportunity to sit at the feet of Jesus just like her sister Mary did. Same opportunity, right? And instead of taking that opportunity, she grew resentful and annoyed with her sister for doing what was right. And this is what happens when Jesus is in our midst and we miss him. We get frustrated, we get annoyed, and then we start to blame him. Look at looking at the story in verse 40, where where the Bible really gets in there and says, But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and ask, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me. When we are ignoring the presence of Jesus, three things happen. The first thing that happens is that we get angry at him. We get annoyed at him, we get angry at him, and we feel away about what he is allowing or not allowing to happen in our lives. The next thing we do is we get annoyed and angry at people, usually the people closest to us. You know, you running around with an attitude and you can't figure out why, and you done checked all your hormones and you, you know, and you figuring it all out. When's the last time you spent some real time with Jesus? When's the last time you spent some real time at his feet? It's hard to sit at the feet of Jesus and get up with an attitude, and I don't care what's going on. I don't care if it's time of the month, hormones. It's hard to sit at the feet of Jesus and get up with an attitude. I don't care what's going on, brother. Money ain't working out, you frustrated, your wife getting on your nerve, because it ain't just the women. It is hard to sit at the feet of Jesus and get up with an attitude. But when Jesus is just in your midst and you're not sitting at his feet, oh yeah, you get an attitude with him and you get an attitude with the people around you. And last but not least, you become disheartened and entitled. Martha says, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Sounds like she's disheartened, she's upset, she's hurt. Don't you care? Don't you care that I feel this way, God? And then she says, To Jesus, tell her to help me. And you know, I understand that there was a familiarity with Jesus that they had. It's not like the, you know, the way we revere Jesus. This was, you know, they they homie, they rabbi, they brother. But Martha knew better than to be talking to Jesus like this. And more importantly, we we get indignant with God when we don't feel like he's doing things the way we want him to do them. We get disheartened and right under that is entitled. Tell, fix, do. Why aren't you as if he is not presenting the very solution by being there? My God, today. By being in the room, he is presenting the solution to your frustration, to your stress, to your burnout, but she's not taking the solution. Instead, she's upset at him for not giving her an earthly solution. Let me break that down more. She's upset at Jesus for not making a human help her. Who am I talking to today? When I tell y'all, because this is us. This is us. God is right there in your midst. Jesus is right there. You're your your provider, right there. And what do you want? A man. And you're mad at him that he didn't give you one. You you upset, big man. Don't you see what I'm going through? Don't you see? If you don't give me, I'm I'm gonna just take it into my own hands. I I did, I went and did this and that because he didn't get he knows my desires. We take things into our own hands and get entitled. My lord. You know, God is the ultimate plug, knows everyone, can put you in whatever room he wants you in. Success not coming at fast enough. What do we want? Give me a plug. A new manager, a new agency, a new record label, a new job, but won't go sit at his feet. The solution is in the room with you. Hello, but we keep passing them up. And listen, I'm I'm speaking aggressively, but baby, I've been here and sometimes be here. I understand. But we really be tripping, just like Martha was tripping. And the beautiful thing about Jesus here is that he doesn't correct her harshly. In fact, you will not see Jesus correct a woman harshly anywhere in the Bible. It's not there. That's a whole nother topic for another time. Jesus does not yell at, harshly rebuke, or embarrass any woman in the Bible ever. He harshly corrects men, never harshly corrects women in the Bible. That's something else for you to study out. There's a love and a desire that he has to protect us. So there's a Greek word for the type of distraction that Martha was experiencing. And it's pronounced peti sao. Hope I'm saying that right. Listen, on my Greek Hebrew scholars, let me know. Let me know. I'm just getting into my bag with this again from my studies. But the word in Greek means drawn away or dragged around, overwhelmed mentally, pulled down. There are so many of us who are who are experiencing this type of a feeling right now, and we can't even really put our finger on it. All we know is we just feel distant. We feel drug around. We feel like we're running around like a chicken with our heads cut off. We feel all over the place. And we really can't explain it other than it's a lot going on. And Martha had a lot going on. She had every reason to be doing what she was doing, and it was still the wrong thing. She wasn't just busy, y'all. She was like falling apart. That's what the drug around, pulled down, drawn away. She was falling apart. And so many of us are falling apart the same way. In verse 41, Jesus, in his loving way, says, Martha, Martha, 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. I love the fact that when Jesus calls her name twice, he does it to acknowledge what she's saying. There's nothing better than you telling somebody something that hurts you or bothers you, and they go back word for word or you know, concept for concept of what you're saying. So you're saying that this and that and that bothers you. There's nothing that makes me feel more seen than when I'm explaining myself to a person or when I'm venting or talking about something, and people can say, okay, I understand what you're saying. This makes sense, but still correct me. That is one of the deepest forms of love. He says, Listen, you are worried and upset about many things. He acknowledged her feelings. He acknowledged the distractions he said about many things, right? He didn't dismiss what she was doing because she was doing what culturally she was supposed to be. You know, sometimes there are things that we are doing that we're trying to figure out and that we're running, and with our whole hearts, we really believe we are doing what is best in the name of Jesus. We think we're doing what is best for our family, we think we're doing what is best for our church, we think we're doing what is best for ourselves. And Jesus might just be saying, Hey, this is not it. You have not chosen what is better. What was better? Sitting at his feet, sitting at his feet. Verse 42 He says, But only one thing is needed. What's the one? Thing Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. What was Mary doing? She was sitting at his feet. That's the one thing that was needed. The one thing that is needed in our lives right now, guys, is for us to be in a place of deep connection with the father. That's the one thing that is needed. You know, my husband often says this uh as someone who went through both his parents uh having intense health issues and both passing away of cancer ultimately. He says, everyone has a lot of problems until they have a health problem and then they have one problem. Everyone has a lot to do, but there's only one thing that needs to be done. There's only one thing that needs to be done. You see how when a health problem comes upon a family, everything, everybody seems to have time now. Nobody had time to get together, nobody had time to, but when there's a health problem, everybody's gonna show up at that hospital. Somebody pass away, every people you ain't seen in years make it to the funeral. Because when we understand that something is the main thing we need to focus on, we make time for it. And that's a dark example, but it's just the truth. You know, that's just a true example. When you realize that your relationship with God is the main thing, you gotta act like it's the main thing. You gotta stop everything else, even the things that need to be done. I'm gonna even put quotes because there are things that legit need to be done. But if they need to be done at the expense of your relationship with God, then they don't need to be done. See, here's the thing, and this is the part that we really miss, especially Christians. I'm talking to the saints right now. I'm talking to the people who are in church several days a week, and you serving and you doing worship and you help with kids' church and you you oversee prison ministry and you praying for the sick and you visiting people in the hospital, you doing all of this stuff, but you don't read your Bible regularly. But you can't pray unless you're with somebody. You have a hard time praying unless somebody is praying with you. You have a hard time doing things that no one will see or recognize. I'm talking to us because what we gotta understand is the person we feel like we're preparing everything for don't need it. She was doing all that stuff because Jesus was there. Hello? She's prepared, she's not doing this for some other, some other thing. Jesus is at the house and she's taking care of what she needs to be taking care of because she has a guest. But the guest ain't needed. Jesus does not need all this extra stuff we have created. News flash there wasn't a worship team in the first century church. Neither was there a welcome team. There weren't ushers, there was none of that. These people were meeting together in homes or in spaces, breaking bread, having communion, talking about the good news. Bible calls them peculiar. One verse said people dare not join them. And we're going out of our way. Listen, I love church. Love church. Most of my adult life I have been in ministry. I love church. I love all the things we do. But most of the things that we do, I promise you the Lord don't care. He don't care. All these new member classes and stuff you done created and Bible studies, all that stuff. Man made things that are good things, but not necessarily what is better. Jesus does not want your busyness. He wants your time. He wants you to want to sit at his feet more than you want to show people what you can do for him. You know, there are some books that really change my perspective about this whole busyness culture that we have. I remember one time I was um really stressed. And I don't know if I've told this story before, but I was really stressed. And uh I was working a job where I would do four 10-hour shifts a week instead of doing uh five, eight-hour shifts. So I would do four 10-hour shifts and it was customer service. And when I tell you the phone rang from the time I clocked in to the time I clocked out, it was nonstop. It wasn't one of them customer service jobs where, you know, you get downtime and all that. No. And I remember I was exhausted. And I called a friend of mine who was also her husband was in ministry at the church I was a part of. And I was like, I just, I'm tired. Like, I really don't want to be at, I don't want to be at midweek tonight, is what I said. And she said, don't come. And I was like, girl, I'm just chatting. Like, I'm coming. And she was like, Don't come. Don't come. She said, You love God, you serve, you, you know, I was I was serving in that church, leading the singles ministry, but I wasn't on staff, so I still had a full-time job. I was going to the staff meetings, I was helping to plan a singles conference for the whole uh whole region of the church. And she said, Don't come. And I didn't even know how to feel about that because I was so used to going to church because I was supposed to be there. She said, You come to everything. I'm quite sure you missing this one midweek will not be an indictment on your relationship with God. You sound like you need rest. You should go home. That changed the way that I led because I realized then at that moment I could go home and actually spend some time with God. Can I can I confess something to y'all? In this move, my husband and I prayed diligently and decided that we would not just go to a church. We would not just go to the churches that we're traditionally from, we would not just go to a church that our friends were a part of. We decided that we would pray, that we would visit different spaces, that we would ask the Holy Spirit to show us where we should be. When I tell y'all that the Sunday mornings and times with God, be it worship, be it Bible study, be it prayer, have been so much better than they usually are on Sunday mornings, because when I was on staff, I had to be at church two hours early and run a service and do all these things. And it was great. And I think it made a real difference. And I know it made a real difference where I was at. How many people, preachers, teachers, worship leaders, get up Sunday morning and don't spend any time in prayer? Because you're running the church, because you're running the rehearsal. How many preachers, and I'm gonna get out y'all business because I don't believe in talking about the man and the woman of God, but how many preachers don't really read their Bible unless they're preparing for a sermon or preparing to get with someone and counsel them? I'm telling y'all what I know. I'm telling y'all what I know. How many preachers don't find time to actually sit with God themselves because they're too busy putting out fires of other people's marriages in their church and money issues with the church? And before you know it, you just preached and now you gotta preach again on Sunday. And you in the room Sunday morning trying to figure something out, not even being Holy Spirit-led. And I'm not saying that the Spirit can't work under duress, obviously he can. But my Lord, I believe he works in stillness and preparation as well. We are a bunch of Marthas. We're a bunch of Marthas. We are so distracted and so justified in our distraction. I saw this um post from a mom and she was saying, don't scroll on your phone for two hours at night and call it decompression, and then get up in the morning and yell at everybody because you're dysregulated and you don't have the stuff that you could have been doing last night together. And I was like, oh, that's good. I ain't even a mama yet, but I'ma take that. Because we are so justified in our distraction. I need to decompress. It's been a hard day. So you spend an hour and a half on Instagram, but you ain't prayed, and then you wonder why you feel the same exact way the next night. Guys, we got, we, we, we, we gotta really take this this Mary thing seriously. Mary had it. I love Mary. She, to me, is an example of the woman that I want to be. I want to be so enamored by Jesus that it doesn't even matter what's going on. I'd rather be at his feet. You know, when I think about like my my nephews, right? When I'm around my nephews, I don't really care about the adults in the room. If they're showing me something, I want to see it. If they got a story to tell me, no matter how many times they stutter and start over, I'd like to hear it. That's important to me. They are the focus when I'm with them, especially if I don't get to be around them often. If you're a busy person and your life is crazy, your time with Jesus should be even more sacred to you. Because it may not be what it used to be when you had more time and more access. These are the things that we've got to really like check ourselves about. And I I say it to y'all, but I have had to say it to myself as well. Where is the Mary in me? Where is the Mary in me that wants to learn from Jesus? See, what Mary understood, oh, that I pray that we can get, is that not only did she not need, not only did she not need to participate in Martha's madness, she didn't have to defend herself for not doing it either. She let Jesus tell Martha, no, I'm not gonna tell Mary to do anything. She didn't say, well, I'm sitting here with Jesus and why would you? Now that's not what the story records, right? But I could imagine Mary wanting to defend herself from this, but she let Jesus do it. You don't have to join the Christian rat race. They didn't ask you, because you're a gifted person, to join this team and help this thing and lead this thing. And when someone else dropped out, they call you and you can say, mm-mm, I'm at Jesus' feet. You don't gotta understand it. You don't gotta think it's the right thing, but I'm at Jesus' feet. This search that my husband and I have been on for a church, there are people in my life who didn't understand it. My own, my mama, she'd be like, So, y'all, y'all found the church yet? You know, and I know she didn't mean nothing by it, but she she's concerned. And I said, Mom, I'm a disciple of Christ. I'm gonna find the church and now I'll find a church. I'm not gonna not go to church. It's important to me. But I had to, and she didn't make, she didn't give me no flag. But what I'm saying is I had to be okay, even if she didn't understand the fact that I wasn't just going to the church that traditionally she might have thought I should have gone to. You know what I mean? Or if people, friends had questions, oh yeah, I thought, yo, yeah, yeah. No, we're at the feet of Jesus right now. That's where we at, trying to hear from him what we should do. And what I love about that is that when we do make a final decision about where we're gonna worship, which I feel like we're close to, I know that I'm going to feel completely secure and surrendered about whatever God asked me to do in that congregation. Because I want to serve, but I don't want to serve out of some weird obligation that has more to do with tradition than it does Jesus. And this is so important. If you are serving in a church, but you don't feel close to God, you need to ask yourself why. I ain't gonna tell you to stop because I don't want y'all worship teams and usher teams and kids teams. Yeah, I don't want you saying Lish told me, uh-uh. I ain't gonna tell you to stop. But what I am gonna say is you need to ask yourself why you get up and do this week after week. You sit in these meetings, you have all this stuff going on, but you don't feel close to God. That's not what Jesus desires for us, and it's not how it has to be. I love that Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen what is better. He doesn't tell her that she did the wrong thing. Sometimes there's a good, a better, and a best. Martha did what was good. Mary did what was best. And I think that in our spiritual walk specifically, we have to start thinking about what is good for me to do right now, what is better, what is best. Let me let you off the hook. It is good for you to go to church. It's good. It's better for you to be a serving member of a church. It is best for you to have a deep personal spiritual connection with the Father. That is best. There are a lot of people who have been a part of church, who have served, who have traveled this world ministering, singing, praying, preaching, laying hands, and they will not make it because their personal lives were a wreck. All sorts of sexual sin, all sorts of deviant behavior, all sorts of secret lifestyles that they could not get control over because what they were doing was more important than spending time with who they said they were doing it for. This is not condemnation. And ultimately, I don't have a heaven and hell to put nobody in. So I don't know if they'll make it or not. But according to the Bible, a lot of people are gonna have a hard time because they didn't choose what was best. And this is my biggest fear. I'm not excluded from this. This is my biggest fear as a gifted person, as a person who has done ministry professionally, as a person who, you know, becomes a part of a church and is almost immediately asked to start doing something. I I could fall into this. I could fall in this Jesus, Jesus, but we prophesied in your name and we cast out demons. And Jesus says, Away from me, I never knew you. I'm terrified of that scripture. That scripture is full of people like Martha. I did the right thing. I'm doing the right thing. And Jesus says, Yeah, but you didn't sit at my feet. You did not sit with me. And I'm just afraid that busyness has got us all tripping. Martha was tripping. She was tripping in the way she spoke to Jesus. She was tripping in the fact that she did not stop and spend time with Jesus. She was tripping in the fact that she was upset at her sister for doing the right thing. And we can all be in that same boat. You know, when Jesus says Martha, Martha in this story, I want you to replace that with your name. Whatever your name is, my government name is Alicia. I feel like Jesus is saying, Alicia, Alicia. You are distracted by many things. He tells her you are worried and upset about many things. Doesn't that sound like us today? Worried and upset. The news, the war, money, the economy, our family, our health. We are worried and upset about many things. And I want you to know that Jesus acknowledges that. Jesus acknowledges that you're worried and upset about many things. He acknowledges that, you know, this, what is going on in the world right now is not his natural design for how things can go. Study out permissible will and perfect will, right? He understands that some of the stuff we're dealing with right now, we were never supposed to be dealing with. And he shows up for us in it in a way that can support us while still letting us know the better thing is time with me. If you don't get anything else from this episode, I want you to understand this. Jesus is in the room. The solution is in the room. And it is up to you to decide if you're gonna sit at his feet, listen to him, be comforted by him, be moved by him, be instructed by him. Or if you're gonna keep running past him, trying to get to all the things that have to be done. I hope that this episode encouraged you. I hope it it makes you go back and do some Bible study of your own on when Jesus calls people's name twice in the Word. Every single story is just like this one. You can you can expound upon it and learn so much from it. I do want to give you guys a resource. There's a book that I love called Having a Mary's Heart in a Martha World. It's by Joanne Weaver. And there's another book that I love called With by Sky Jatani. These two books really help me when I am feeling very distracted and not making, not prioritizing my time with God the way that I know I need to. These books really have helped with my perspective on that. You know, my my prayer and my desire for you as you listen to this podcast is that you will really this week, don't even wait. This week say enough is enough to the busyness, to the distractions, to anything that is pulling me away from a personal deep relationship with Christ. Enough is enough of that. I gotta get in my word, I gotta get in prayer, I gotta get in my secret place. I have to truly prioritize my relationship with Christ and see how much that does for you. Jesus said, Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken from her. Jesus won't take that peace once he gives it to you. He won't allow it to be taken from you once he gives it to you. So sit at his feet and get peace from him today. This has been another episode of I'll Just Let Myself In, the podcast, where we don't wait for an imaginary permission slip or some seat at an imaginary table. We let ourselves into our God-given doors and we let ourselves in to spending time with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I'm excited for the rest of this season. I pray that you guys go ahead and subscribe. If you are listening to this on Holy Culture channel 140 on Sirius XM Radio on a Monday night, 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, we thank you for listening there. If you're watching on their YouTube, thanks for watching. And if you're watching on my YouTube, thanks for watching here. Please go ahead and subscribe, hit the notification bell so that you don't miss anything that we have coming up. And we'll be back next week. Same time, same place. Peace.