Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Too Busy to Sit With Jesus? | The Gospels | Luke 10:38–42

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

Why is it so easy to stay busy doing things for Jesus while missing time with Jesus himself? What happens when activity replaces intimacy? And what does it look like to choose the “better thing” Jesus speaks about? In today’s episode, Patrick shares how Luke 10:38–42 shows that Jesus values being with him more than being busy for him, and invites us to slow down and sit at his feet. Read the Bible with us in 2026! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Luke 10:38–42

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. Here's one of my favorite personality tests. Given the choice, do you clean up before you relax or after you relax? In other words, is it time to clean the dishes right after dinner or the next morning? Should you straighten up the living room before you watch TV or after you finish? I know my answer.

work than play. After all, how can you relax that there's a big mess around you? So perhaps it's for this reason that generally speaking, everyone in my family is relaxing and connecting in the morning while I'm scrambling around to make sure that the trash is emptied, the dishes are all cleaned, that the laundry is moving, that the bed is made. Or perhaps that's why after I eat my dinner, I finish my last bite, and almost can't help but walking straight to the sink and starting to clean all of the dishes all at once rather than staying at the table and talking. And if I'm being honest, I kind of think that I do things the right way, right? I do business before I do fun. And I think it's not just the right way for me. I kind of think it's the right way for everyone. Now, to be clear, I am not a clean freak. My desk can be

super messy and I'm not bothered by piles. But if I know that work needs to be done in a day, my general mentality is to just finish it as soon as possible because I can't enjoy much of anything else with that work looming over my head. So if I know that I have to clean, I just have to get the cleaning done. Now, maybe you're like me, or maybe your best friend is like me, or maybe your spouse is like me. And whichever side you fall on, the other side probably makes you feel crazy. I know if you ask my wife, she'd say that my need to work and then play often means that we don't ever get to the play part, because there's always more to do. So what in practice sounds noble, I clean the dishes before I sit down and relax, eventually amounts to just

ignoring my family because I'm always cleaning and I'm always doing something rather than spending time with them. Now, of course, that's not my goal, but it's often the result. It's hard to connect when you're so busy bustling around with task after task after task. And by the way, it's really easy to get judgmental of others when you're the busy body doing all the things, to feel a little bit put on, like, why is no one helping me right now? Like, you're alone and all of your hard work? So, perhaps it's no surprise that I've always been convicted by this story in Luke's gospel. We'll pick up in Luke 10, verse 38. 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 the work by myself? Tell her to help me. Martha, Martha, the Lord answered. You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Now, I know this is one of the stories a lot of people have heard before, and maybe we think we know what it's saying. I know I've gotten into a place where I have assume I know the point of this story. This is often a passage that's used to tell all the type A people in the world, all the busy bodies to just chill out a little bit, to stop with the dishes, stop with

the laundry and the cooking and the cleaning and just relax. And maybe that is the point of this passage, but it's not actually the contrast that Jesus draws. Yes, Martha is busy serving. Yes, Mary is learning at Jesus's feet. But Jesus doesn't condemn the serving. In fact, in other places, he commends serving. So he couldn't possibly be telling Martha that her serving is the problem. And of course, there's this fundamental truth. We know nothing about Martha and Mary's personalities. What if Mary was the type A sister who usually did the cooking and cleaning and Martha only complained because she was used to Mary doing all the work? Or maybe they were both type A or both type B. I don't know. it's easy to make assumptions about their personalities based on a single verse, but we really don't know.

And yet again, Jesus doesn't contrast the servant with the student. That would be super strange given that one of his primary goals was for his students to become servants. Now let's reread Jesus's words and look at the contrast he actually draws. Verse 31, Martha Martha, said the Lord, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed. Or indeed, only one, Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.

So contrasts are being made, and it's a contrast between Martha and Mary's state of mind. It's a contrast between Martha and Mary's priorities. Let's start with the latter, Mary. Mary's priority is being with Jesus, and Martha's priority is serving Jesus. Now, this is a very subtle difference, not the least of which because both are very good things according to Jesus himself.

The question seems to be which one comes first. Martha puts action before contemplation. Martha puts what other people see before what God alone sees. Martha puts application ahead of worship. How often is this true in our own lives? Perhaps we live what we think of as good lives and we say to ourselves, I'm serving God, I'm doing well. but despite your moral character or ethical practices, whether that's at work or at church, the truth is there's very little intimacy between you and God.

Little time in prayer. Little time in God's word. Little love or warmth or desire between you and God. Jesus wants to make it clear which is more important to him. He cares more about being with you than being served by you. Why? Because he loves you. not for what you can do for him.

He loves you for you. Do you know how freeing that is? To know that the Savior of the world wants your heart more than your hands? Of course he wants both, but there's no question which comes first for him. He wants your heart first and foremost. And that leads to the second contrast in this passage between Mary and Martha's state of mind. You see, Mary is content at the feet of Jesus. But Jesus says to Martha,

You are worried and upset about many things. Perhaps because Martha is putting serving Jesus above being with Jesus, her heart is unsettled. She's agitated, irritable, worried about much, upset about much. So people love to judge Martha. She's so busy she's worked herself into a frustrated tizzy. You can throw stones at Martha if your heart is without sin. Mine is not. We don't know all of what Martha is worried about or upset about.

And yes, of course, she's bothered with Mary. But I think there's a lot more on her mind. Jesus says she is worried and upset about many things. I suspect that you yourself know what it's like to worry. You know what it's like to feel upset. You're familiar with those feelings. They seem inescapable. Now, Jesus doesn't say that these feelings are always sins.

There are times to be worried, times to be upset. Jesus himself was worried and sometimes upset. but I do think he's warning Martha about developing a mindset. She's not worried or upset about a legitimate or specific problem. Again, Jesus says she is worried and upset about many things. In other words, she's simply become a worried and upset person. This is her disposition. And I think it's the inevitable disposition of anyone who deprioritizes being with Jesus.

What your soul needs, above all else, is being with him. You need his present assurance. What your soul needs is to sit at his feet every day and know that today's worries and insults and frustrations are not ultimate. They're not the end of the story. Whether that's a difficult boss or a coworker or a nagging spouse or a complaining child, it's easy to worry about these things, to busy yourself trying to fix them or dig yourself into a mental hole just thinking about them over and over and over again.

And so Jesus says to us, stop. sit at my feet, listen, be with me. Let me steady you. Let me turn your eyes toward an eternal perspective where all the things of this life that worry you and frustrate you, they lose their sharpness and they grow bearable. So sit at his feet, be with Jesus, choose the better thing, put being with him first.