girltalk Blog
2010 at 3:49 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines
Mary wanted to sit at Jesus’ feet by deliberately ignoring distractions—namely, Martha and her anxious busyness.But we need to be alert to what distracts us from keeping our daily appointment to read God’s word and pray.
Maybe it’s a hobby, the newspaper or a magazine, watching TV, listening to your ipod, staying up to late at night, loving sleep too much, blogging, keeping up with facebook, following twitter, texting, etc.
We must do whatever it takes to say “no” to the distractions that keep us from the one thing that is necessary: sitting at Jesus’ feet.
A while back, I found that the Internet was becoming a distraction. I was using the five minutes it took for my coffee to brew each morning to quickly check my email, or headline news, or maybe a blog or two, before starting my devotions.
I’d check a headline and then I just had to read the story; or I’d check a blog I enjoy, and I just had to check out the link they recommended, or I’d get caught up not just looking at my email, but answering it.
Before I knew it, five minutes would turn into twenty minutes and then my quiet time would be cut short.
So, I knew I needed to make a choice. I had to choose to say no to this distraction! I resolved to not look at email or blogs or headline news until after my time of Bible study and prayer.
What about you? Is there a distraction in your life that you need to say “no” to?
Whatever it takes ladies, let’s be ruthless about not allowing anything to distract us from seeking God through His Word and prayer.
2010 at 5:40 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines
To recap our “sitting” series, we’ve considered:
WHAT we are to sit and listen to: Jesus’ teaching. It is the one thing that is necessary.
WHERE we are to sit and listen: at Jesus’ feet, with humble hearts, eager to listen and learn.
WHEN we need to sit: even in busy seasons we must consistently seek God through His Word and prayer.
WHY do we sit: because we need God’s grace, not as a way to earn His approval.
The final question is HOW. How do we sit at Jesus’ feet?
Then answer is in Luke 10:42: “Mary has chosen the good potion.”
Mary didn’t just think about sitting and listening or talk to others about it. She chose to sit and listen. We must choose to sit and listen.
“It’s easier to serve than commune” observed the great preacher Charles Spurgeon. It’s easier to do what Martha did than what Mary did. So we need “great grace” to follow Mary’s example—to choose to sit and listen.
Two things will help us to choose the good portion:
1. eliminate distractions
2. develop a plan
More to come…
2010 at 7:14 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines
…as a way to earn God’s approval. It can’t be done. No string of quiet times in a row can meet the standard of a holy God. No amount of Scripture reading or prayer can earn His forgiveness.
Jesus Christ is the only person who ever met with God’s approval. He lived a perfect life and died in our place, receiving the wrath of God that we deserved. He rose again, and stands “before the throne of God above”—the perfect, spotless righteousness of those who trust in Him.
As believers we are justified—declared righteous, forgiven, and accepted by God—through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone. We do not earn or forfeit our justification before God based on our performance.
Our good works, our faithfulness to sit and listen, our diligence to seek the Lord through prayer and Scripture do not add to Christ’s finished work.
Ephesians 2:8-9 sets the record straight: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
We must keep this truth ever before us as we resolve to sit at the Savior’s feet. It is necessary and beneficial; but it is never, never, never a means to earn God’s forgiveness or acceptance.
B.B. Warfield empathically hammered home this point when he said:
“There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake, or we cannot be accepted at all. This is not true of us only when we believe. It is just as true after we have believed. It will continue to be true as long as we live…It is always on His ‘blood and righteousness’ alone that we can rest.”
Are you discouraged or condemned by your failure to sit and listen?
Then revel in this truth: We have a Savior who died for our sins. His blood and righteousness alone makes us acceptable to God.
2010 at 4:41 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Spiritual Growth
When CJ leaves for work at the end of the day, he tells Tony, his assistant, and Nora, his secretary: “We’ll try again tomorrow,”
That’s short for: “Well friends, we worked hard today, but once again we failed to accomplish everything we hoped. Maybe we even made mistakes, used poor judgment, or experienced setbacks. We are frail and finite creatures. Only God gets His to-do list done. And only God does it perfectly, every day. So, let’s humbly acknowledge our weakness and insufficiency in contrast to His strength and sovereignty. But let’s not give up in despair. If God wills, let’s come back tomorrow and by His grace, do our best to serve Him faithfully, for His glory!”
Let’s try again tomorrow.
I think CJ’s little phrase can help us in the New Year.
Are you discouraged by unfulfilled resolutions from years past? Maybe you’ve already failed to keep your resolutions for 2010.
I can easily get discouraged when I consider this past year: My recipes remain half-organized on my computer. My reading list is only two-thirds completed. Certain relationships I wanted to invest in remain untended. My unbelief still dogs me.
But I read more books this year than if I’d never resolved to read at all. I’ve taken more initiative with people, even if not as much as I would have liked. And the recipes are half way-organized instead of one big mess! By God’s grace, I think I’ve even grown in faith, however slow my progress.
I may not have completed my to-do list for 2009. But I’ve done more than if I never tried at all.
So, I’m going to try again this year. I’m going to make new resolutions to glorify God. I’m going to seek to make them humbly—recognizing my weakness and inability to complete them all perfectly.
But in the words of Paul: “one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). I want to press on to be more like Jesus and be with Him more often in 2010.
As we bid goodbye to 2009, I say to you: “Let’s try again this year.”
2010 at 3:17 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines
We’ve all made our New Year’s resolutions: Spend (a little) less money on shoes, organize the kitchen cabinets, dig out the exercise DVD from under the bed, check the facebook feed fewer times per day.
But wait. Have we resolved to do the one thing that is necessary in 2010?
Donald Whitney, in a timely sermon at CLC yesterday, challenged us to pursue holiness: “without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).
“Our purpose in life—if we have the Holy Spirit” he says, “is godliness: you want to be like Jesus, and you want to be with Jesus.”
And there’s only one way for that to happen.
By practicing the spiritual disciplines.
By sitting at Jesus’ feet.
“Godly people are godly people primarily because they are disciplined people. And it has always been that way” insists Dr. Whitney:
“You can go all the way back through the history of the church and all the famous heroes of church history. You can be sure that all those men and women became godly men and women – not because God zapped them in some way that he hasn’t zapped you….Those great men and women of faith became more like Jesus the same way you and I do: by means of sustained, unspectacular, routine discipline. Godly people are godly people because they are disciplined people. It’s always been so.”
To help us be more disciplined, godly people, we have an exciting new feature coming soon to girltalk. So stay tuned.
But today, I want to urge you to listen to this message by Dr. Whitney. It will strengthen your desire and resolve to be more like Jesus and be with Jesus more often in 2010.
Let’s sit in the new year together.
2009 at 5:01 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
“Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42
This week, I’m planning Christmas dinner. I went to the grocery store yesterday. I’m going again today. And tomorrow. And Christmas Eve.
Actually, it’s a dinner that Jesus is referring to in Luke 10:42. The Greek word for “portion” here means “meal.”
He tells Martha—who is busily preparing a meal that fed the body—that Mary has chosen the good meal. Mary was eating a meal that fed the soul.
But not only that—Jesus said it was a meal that would not be taken away from her. Wow! Now that’s a really good meal!
It might take us twenty minutes to eat Christmas dinner. It will take our body 24-32 hours to digest that meal. The benefits won’t last for long.
But when we make the Lord’s teaching our meal, when we feast on His Word, the benefits from that meal will last for a very long time.
So long in fact, that Jesus said, it will not be taken away from us. Not in 24 hours, not in 24 years, not even in eternity.
Think about that. Every time we read, study, meditate or memorize God’s Word we are ingesting truth that will never be taken away from us.
That’s astounding!
That’s a meal we don’t want to skip!
2009 at 5:55 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
Sitting says to God: I need you!
Often, we don’t feel our need for God as much around the holidays. We might get a little anxious about all we have to do, but we figure—with a little help from family members—we can handle the Christmas baking and shopping and decorating pretty well on our own. I mean, what to get our father-in-law for Christmas hardly seems important enough to bother God with.
Come to think of it, wasn’t that what our friend Martha was doing?
She lost sight of her need for the Lord’s help. She was just bent on getting the help of that sister of hers!
Yet the Lord lovingly reminded her that needed His help. She needed His grace to serve. She needed to hear His voice to not be anxious.
Martha, Martha He tenderly chided her. I am the one you need to come to for grace and help in time of need – any need, no matter how small or great!
Notice that God didn’t wait until Lazarus’ death to encourage Martha to come to Him. He didn’t tell her to sit and listen only in time of great trial or difficulty. He spoke these words to her in the midst of the general busyness of her home.
“Take one step at a time, every step under Divine warrant and direction.” exhorts Charles Bridges. It’s holiday advice we’ve shared with you before, but worth repeating:
“Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without his counsel. He loves to be consulted…Consider no circumstances too clear to need his direction. In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative, temporal or eternal, let Him be supreme. Who of us has not found the unspeakable ‘peace’ of bringing to God matters too minute or individual to be entrusted to the most confidential ear?”
No circumstance is too clear. No matter too minute or personal or temporal to bring to God (even your father-in-law’s present!). God is not bothered or offended by our ordinary, mundane requests. He loves to be consulted about the ordinary matters of our days, and our holidays!
Let’s bring our anxious souls to Him and receive the gift of “unspeakable peace.”
2009 at 5:24 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
Did you wake up this morning and say to God: “I don’t need to read your Word or pray or listen to your voice today. I am competent on my own. I can do this all by myself, thank you very much.”??
Of course not! We would never dare say these frightfully arrogant words.
But if we neglect God’s Word and prayer over the holidays (and when is it more easy to do!), we are saying with our hearts and actions: “I can do it all by myself.”
Jesus has a different perspective: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” He says in John 15:5.
We can’t ice one cookie, trim one tree, sing one carol, shop one minute, sew one stitch, or wrap one gift without Him. None of these things—no matter how hard we work at them or how beautifully we pull them off—will have any “eternal value or…produce spiritual fruit” without God (ESV Study Bible).
To bear fruit, we must sit at His feet.
We must renounce our self-sufficiency.
We must repent from our arrogant independence.
We must come to the God of mercy who is eager to forgive.
And we must sit.
When we sit at Jesus’ feet, we are saying: “I need you! I can’t obey you without your help. I can’t serve you in my own strength. I can’t walk in a manner worthy of the gospel by myself. I need your grace.”
And you know what, He will give it! God didn’t correct Martha’s self-sufficiency to push her away. He wanted to draw her near to sit and listen. He wanted to speak to her, to teach her, to give her grace to bear fruit.
So let’s say—with our words, our hearts, and our actions—I need you, Lord, today!
2009 at 12:32 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
“And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’” Luke 10:40
According to Martha, Mary picked the wrong time to sit and listen to Jesus’ teaching.
“C’mon Mary”—you can almost hear her say—“after dinner, when the crockery is put away and the floors swept, then you can sit and listen to Jesus to your heart’s content. But right now there’s work to do!”
Sounds reasonable to us. But Jesus disagreed. He thought Mary’s timing was perfect.
Let’s take our cues from Mary. We shouldn’t wait until things settle down after the holidays. We shouldn’t postpone listening to Jesus until January 1. We must choose to sit and listen to the Lord’s teaching today: right in the middle of the Christmas crazyness. And we must strive to do so every day after.
We can’t afford not to. “Man does not live by bread alone,” God declares in Deuteronomy 8:3, “but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Just as we can’t survive without physical food, neither can we thrive without spiritual food. We cannot live without God’s Word. As our bodies require daily physical nourishment, so our souls need daily spiritual nourishment.
Our morning bowl of cereal won’t sustain us for three weeks. Neither can our souls subsist on one dose of God’s Word. As D.L Moody explains:
“A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough for the next six months, or take sufficient air into his lungs at one time to sustain life for a week. We must draw upon God’s boundless store of grace from day to day as we need it.”
We can’t truly live unless we sit and listen. So let’s daily “take in a supply of grace” through God’s Word and prayer.
2009 at 4:58 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
“Mary…sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” Luke 10:39
We’re still “Sitting Out the Holidays.”
What are we sitting and listening to? Jesus’ teaching. It is the one thing, the only thing, that is necessary.
The next question is where: Where should we sit and listen?
Mary chose the floor. She literally sat at Jesus’ feet. Now obviously we don’t have to sit on the floor to have our devotions—not unless we want to!
Mary’s choice to sit at Jesus’ feet revealed the location of her heart.
It displayed her eagerness to listen to His teaching. It revealed her zeal to learn and grow. She wanted to hear every word, absorb every word, and submit to every word that came from her Lord’s mouth.
The floor was simply the best spot for that to happen.
Sitting at the Lord’s feet doesn’t imply what position our body should be in; it represents what position our heart should be in. Where we sit has nothing to do with body posture and everything to do with the posture of our heart.
Mary approached her Lord with a posture of humility. She sat before her Lord as a hungry learner, an eager student. We should come to God’s Word in the same way.
So where’s your heart this holiday season? Is it running frantically through the mall? Is it gazing longingly at an unwrapped present? Is it mingling with guests at a holiday party?
It’s not enough just to sit. There’s a special place we must sit. We must sit at the Lord’s feet. We must come to God’s Word with a humble heart: eager to learn, ready to receive, and determined to obey.
2009 at 3:12 pm | by Kristin Chesemore
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
The other day, my three boys tramped downstairs to the kitchen. They were arguing.
“He took my quarters!” my seven-year-old pointed to his brother.
“No, Mom, I brought these quarters home from Mom-Mom’s house!” the accused brother defended himself.
As I tried to get the story from them, one…at…a…time, the words of blame kept flowing, with frequent interruptions and scowls.
My temptation in these moments? I want to bring swift resolution through my commands and directives: “Boy #1 is wrong. Boy #2 is right. Case closed.” I want peace for myself more than I want to teach my children God’s Word. This temptation is especially acute over the holidays.
But my words—although very important!—are not sufficient. My children need to hear God’s Words. They need Scripture, which is “profitable for teaching, correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). They need God’s promises and commands sown like seed into their little hearts. They need the words from God’s mouth, which never return empty (Is. 55:11).
So we return to the most often quoted verse in the Chesemore home—Ephesians 4:29: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
“Is corrupting talk coming out of your mouths?” I ask my boys. “What words would give grace to your brother?”
And surprise, surprise—Scripture serves me too. I need the life-giving words of Scripture as much as my sons. I too need the encouragement and correction of Ephesians 4:29.
This is one reason why I must sit and listen to Jesus’ teaching every day. So that I—and my boys—can profit from His Words.
2009 at 2:30 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
What is this teaching we are to sit and listen to?
It is God’s Word, the Bible.
God’s Word is like no other book we read: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16
How do we profit from Scripture? God’s Word…
Gives us peace (Ps. 119:165).
Fills us with hope (Col. 1:5)
Strengthens our faith (Rom. 10:17)
Revives our soul (Ps. 19:7)
Provides us with wisdom (Pr. 1:1-7, Matt. 7:24-27)
Guides us (Ps. 119:105)
Warns us (Deut 32:46)
Corrects us (2 Tim 3:16)
Comforts us (Ps. 119:50)
Enable us to fight sin (Ps. 119:11)
Most importantly, God’s Word leads us to Christ. (Heb 1:1-2)
So why do we neglect to read, study, memorize, and meditate on this precious, life-giving book?
As John Piper comments on Ps. 19:7:, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul”:
“Even on days when every cinder in our soul feels cold, if we crawl to the Word of God and cry out for ears to hear, the cold ashes will be lifted and the tiny spark of life will be fanned. For ‘the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.’”
O may God help us to sit and listen to the Lord’s teaching!
2009 at 11:25 am | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
“But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.’” Luke 10:41 (emphasis mine)
There are “many things” to do before next Thursday’s turkey dinner. (You may be scribbling a mental list in your head right now!) But the Savior’s wisdom can radically simplify our holiday. For, as he told Martha: “only one thing is necessary.”
What is this “one thing?” What are we to “sit and listen” to? Our Lord’s teaching.
There is nothing more important than hearing the Lord speak. It’s the one essential thing, the only thing that is necessary.
Mary understood. She longed to know Jesus, to learn all she could about Him. She wanted to hear everything He said. She didn’t want to miss one word that came out of His mouth. So she sat down right smack in front of the Lord so she could listen to His teaching.
Now Jesus wasn’t suggesting that Martha’s serving was wrong or even unimportant. I’m not suggesting we skip Thanksgiving dinner and encourage our family to “hit the pantry” instead.
Serving is important. Our Lord also taught us: “The greatest among you shall be your servant.”
But serving is not the most necessary thing.
There is only one thing that is truly necessary—listening to the Lord speak.
So as we head into the holidays, as we face the temptation to be distracted with much serving, or tempted about many things, let’s remind ourselves of Jesus’ words.
Should I be serving? There is one thing more necessary!
Should I be worrying? This is completely unnecessary!
There is only one thing that is necessary.
And what is that?
To sit and listen to the Lord’s teaching, that’s what!
2009 at 11:33 am | by Carolyn Mahaney
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Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
“And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. but Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” Luke 10:39-42
My other Martha Moment? I sit, but I don’t listen.
Martha had trouble sitting because she was distracted with much serving. But she also had trouble listening.
“Martha, Martha,” our Lord lovingly addressed her, “you are anxious and troubled about many things.”
We can’t listen if we are anxious and troubled about many things.
I’ve squandered my fair share of devotional times worrying rather than listening. I sit on the living room couch with my Bible, journal, reading plan, books, and coffee, but I fail to listen.
I rehearse a difficult conversation from the night before: What could I have said? What should I have said? What will I say next time we talk?
Or I consider the day ahead: What time is Chad’s soccer game? Oh, I almost forgot I’m babysitting Kristin’s boys. And I need to get C.J.’s shirts from the cleaners before he goes out of town….
Or I notice an empty corner in the living room and begin to redecorate in my mind: If we move this chair to that corner and purchase a small table and lamp to go over here…
All the while, my Bible is open on my lap.
But I’m not listening.
I might even read my Bible, but because I am distracted, I have no idea what I just read.
I’m still not listening
Do you have your own “Martha Moments?” Do you find it hard to sit? Do you find it difficult to listen?
God knew Martha was anxious and troubled. He knows when we are anxious and troubled. He lovingly spoke to Martha; and through her story He lovingly speaks to us today: “only one thing is necessary.”
More on this “one thing” next week.
2009 at 3:16 pm | by Carolyn Mahaney
Filed under
Biblical Womanhood Spiritual Disciplines Homemaking Holidays and Seasons
“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. but Martha was distracted with much serving.” Luke 10:38-40
Sitting is hard work. As women, we are doers by nature, not sitters. How can we sit when there is so “much serving” to do? Then the holidays hit. And we thought sitting was hard before.
After thirty five years of loving, reading, studying and meditating on God’s Word, I still have my Martha Moments: I am tempted to serve rather than sit.
Sadly, it doesn’t take much to distract me. It can be as simple as a breakfast bar wrapper.
I’ll be in the kitchen pouring a cup of coffee to have with my devotions when….
I notice the breakfast bar wrapper on the kitchen table that my son neglected to throw away the night before.
I throw it away and discover that the trashcan is full.
I take the trashcan to the garage to empty.
When I return the emptied trashcan to the kitchen, I discover that we are out of trash bags.
I go to the basement to get new trash bags only to remember the load of laundry in the dryer that I forgot to fold.
As I fold the laundry I realize I need to iron Chad’s school uniform for school that day.
Which reminds of the note I need to write to his teacher.
As I’m jotting a note, I hear CJ on the treadmill.
“I should hop in the shower now, because he’s going to need get in the shower as soon as he finishes exercising.”
By the time I get out of the shower it’s time to wake Chad for school and make his breakfast and pack his lunch…
Poof! Gone is that precious time to sit at the Lord’s feet.
But that’s not my only Martha Moment. I’ll share another one tomorrow.
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