Motivation Monday’s have taken a new meaning since COVID-19 has crippled our nation. We are Christian Warriors who need to promote an aura of confidence, peace, and never-ending love. It’s a tall order, considering the current state of the world. I listened to three great sermons yesterday morning and all three touched on roughly the same idea: not letting fear and anxiety rule your world. I’ll be sharing those sermons this week, starting with Passion City Church and, although we were not able to finish watching their live stream due to some technical issues, it was our first time watching a live Passion service and it was amazing.
Click on the image above to see their entire service. The next image below is our worship song of the day, which is also from Passion. Enjoy and stay motivated. Bless those around you. We are the hands and feet of Jesus.
March 23
38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40But 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!”
41“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but few things are needed-or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)
In today’s verses we read how Jesus and the Twelve are at the home of Mary and Martha. I have heard a few sermons spoken about this passage recently by some of my favorite Pastors, so some of that may come out during this devotion. Martha sought to throw Jesus a Pinterest worthy party. She wanted to make sure all the food and preparations would get her some extra likes when she posted pics of everything on her Instagram. Martha was working hard to impress Jesus. And all the while, she was watching her sister just sitting there, relaxing, listening intently to all Jesus had to say. Finally Martha had enough of her lazy sister, so she brought it up to Jesus. She tells Jesus, “Tell her to help me!” Martha was hoping Jesus would kick Mary away and order her up to wait on the men as Martha had thought was most important. But Jesus spoke to Martha directly instead: “Martha, Martha.” He said her name twice to ensure she was paying attention to Him. Martha had worried herself on trying to impress Jesus. Mary just wanted to be with Jesus.
There are so many different ways this story can be used as a great teaching moment from Jesus. But the one that I think speaks to our current time is that Martha was “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” If you have not caught on by now, or if you are just recently joining the Common Sense Reborn(CSR) project, cutting the distractions out of our current culture is the main point of CSR. Our society has fallen into a deep chasm of distractions thanks to modern technology. With the launch of all the streaming services at the end of 2019, we launched this website in the hopes to open the eyes of America to remind them what is truly important. Now, COVID-19 has really opened the eyes of the world and caught everyone’s attention. So what preparations are you making due to this crisis? Are you shoring up your doomsday bunker or are you loading up donation boxes to take to those truly in need? I shouldn’t have to tell you which one of these represents sitting at the feet of Jesus. These are extraordinary times to allow us to do extraordinary acts in order to show the world the love and compassion only Christians can demonstrate. Don’t let unnecessary fear and anxiety become a distraction that keeps you from spending time with Jesus. As Jesus told Martha, there was only one thing she needed to be concerned with and that was their time spent with Jesus. Ironically, almost 2,000 years later and the world still struggles with making that your one priority every day. Spend time in the Word and with Jesus today. He will take the weight of all this worry off your shoulders and bear it on His. He’s done it before, He will do it again. God will use this tragedy to bring the entire world to His feet. You might as well get to the front row and save some seats.
Reading plan: Luke 18
Deeper reading plan: 2 Samuel 12, 13
Prayer and meditation: continue to pray for your request from day 1 and pray for clarity to what is truly important in this life.
Fitness challenge: 3 sets of our 7×14 challenge. This week, do nice, controlled, slow repititions:
1. Standard push-up
2. Sit-up or crunches
3. Air squats
4. Hand-release push-up
5. Leg lifts
6. Lunges (7-each leg)
7. 4-count flutter kicks
Common Sense Reborn 