Your Daily Devotional for September 16, 2006

 

September 16, 2006

 

A Mess of Stress

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

“Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”

 

John 11:1-5

 

 

In this passage of Scripture we see a family who was troubled by the sickness of their brother. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were siblings who lived together in the town of Bethany which was on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. They were good friends of our Lord and He loved to visit them often. Their brother Lazarus had fallen ill and his sisters were afraid that he was going to die, so they called Jesus.

 

Now, Jesus was going to take care of Lazarus in His own time. He loved each member of this family; however, there was one member whose demeanor showed that she was carrying a heavy load. Martha is the picture of a stressful person. Luke 10:40 says, “But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.”

 

The word cumbered at the beginning of that verse means “to be driven about mentally.” You could say that Martha had a lot on her plate. She had assumed the role of mother of the household and was cooking, cleaning, and doing the chores. She was driven mentally by constantly trying to keep things in order.

 

She also was constantly serving. While serving is not bad, overloading yourself with so much to do can hurt your effectiveness for the Lord. Martha was a true multi-tasker. A multi-tasker plans their day unrealistically, then is disappointed in themselves when they don’t get everything done. They are also the first to arrive at work and the last to leave. While there is nothing wrong with working hard, these people work to the point of exhaustion sometimes. They also are always in a hurry. They seem to be constantly rushing around to get things done. This is because their planning for the day is so unrealistic that there is no way they could ever get everything done.

 

This all leads to a mess of stress in your life. God doesn’t want us so busy with working that we forget what we are to be truly doing—winning souls to Christ, developing our relationship with Him and with our family, enjoying the blessings around us! We need to remember to keep the main thing, the main thing! Can we be an effective testimony for Him if our minds are always on the problems we have at work? What burdens of stress are you carrying today? Let the Lord help you get rid of your stress and become a better witness for Him!

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