You know how sometimes things just soak in? Or you really just get them for the first time? That proverbial light bulb going off over your head? That happened to me tonight.
I was running early to pick someone up. I am normally pretty time conscious, I may be pushing it to get there on time but I am usually not late. On the other hand I am not usually running 15 minutes early either. But tonight I was.
So I pulled over in a parking lot. I am working harder on just being quiet before God. I always think for that to happen that I need the perfect time, perfect setting, quantity amount of time to be still before the Lord. Granted those times are great they just don't happen enough in my life. So, I am working at being able to just stop and be still before God wherever I am.
So I pulled over in a parking lot, shut off my car, closed my eyes to shut out distractions and just said God what do you want to show me right now? I am on the way to Celebrate Recovery to hang out with 8-15 kids. My lesson tonight is about lying, about your yes being yes and your no being no. What do you want me to teach them from this God?
Well as usually when I am trying to be still before God my mind starts to wander. I said I am working harder on this, I haven't mastered it! So my ADD kicks in and I start to think about something I read in a Proverbs 31 email devotion today. The phrase I read said "God loved Mary and Martha both. But in that moment Jesus was more delighted with Mary's heart to be with Him than Martha's heart to serve Him."
I thought to myself wow Jesus loved them both. And in that still small voice I heard Jesus say, yes I love Martha. I love Martha's servant heart. And just like that Martha became real to me. It hit me the same Jesus I talk with each day had an actual conversation with Martha. She was real! Martha was a real person, she wasn't just a character in a "bible story" we read about. She wasn't a parable Jesus made up to make a point. She was an actual, living human being.
I don't know why that has never hit me so squarely in the face before. I love the STORY of Mary and Martha. Well sometimes I love it, most of the time it is convicting for me. I relate more to Martha than Mary. But until tonight it has always been a story to me.
I have been praying as I read my bible this year that I would see it for what it truly is. A book about Jesus, that he would become more real to me. That I wouldn't read it looking just for answers for me, but that I would get to know the man whom it is written about. So I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that as he becomes more real to me so will the other people of the bible.
What about you? Are the people in the bible people or are they characters in a story??
