Putting First Things First: Presence at Jesus' Feet

Aug 23, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Distracted by Doing Good

Martha’s hands were full of meal preparations, her heart full of urgency. Yet Jesus saw past her busyness to the anxiety pulling her in every direction. Distraction isn’t always about bad choices—it’s often good work blinding us to better work. When tasks demand attention, Jesus still whispers: the truest priority isn’t productivity, but presence. What we think is essential may keep us from what is eternal. [10:29]

“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. 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. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:38–42, ESV)

Reflection: Where does your “good work” quietly edge out time with Jesus? What practical step could help you recognize when distraction masquerades as diligence?

Day 2: The Question Beneath the Frenzy

“Lord, don’t you care?” Martha’s cry echoes in overwhelmed hearts. Anxiety amplifies our fears, making tasks feel like tests of worth. Jesus doesn’t dismiss her work but reorders her heart. His gentle repetition of her name disarms frustration, inviting her to trade proving for being known. The real issue isn’t the chaos around us, but the noise within. [17:15]

“But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:41–42, ESV)

Reflection: When have you equated Jesus’ silence with indifference? How might naming your “Lord, don’t you care?” moment lead to deeper trust?

Day 3: Sitting Where Desire Grows

Mary’s posture—sitting at Jesus’ feet—defied cultural expectations. Students sat there to learn, but Mary chose intimacy over productivity. Her stillness wasn’t passive; it was active receptivity. Time with Jesus isn’t about checking boxes but letting love for Him outgrow lesser loves. What we receive in silence shapes us more than what we achieve in noise. [22:51]

“And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” (Luke 10:39, ESV)

Reflection: What makes sitting still with Jesus feel unproductive to you? What would it look like to prioritize “listening posture” over “fixing posture” this week?

Day 4: The Portion That Can’t Be Taken

Martha worked to earn approval; Mary rested to receive grace. Jesus called Mary’s choice the “good portion”—a share of Himself that couldn’t be lost. Tasks end, meals finish, but connection with Christ lingers. Our doing gains temporary results; our being with Him stores up eternal weight. The better portion isn’t taken—it’s given. [24:06]

“Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42, ESV)

Reflection: What temporary task feels urgent today? How could anchoring it to eternal purpose shift your focus?

Day 5: When All You Can Do Is Fall

Years later, Mary fell at Jesus’ feet again—this time in grief. Practice in peace prepared her for crisis. When Lazarus died, she knew where to go when words failed. Sitting with Jesus in calm days trains us to collapse toward Him in storms. Familiarity with His presence becomes our lifeline when life shatters. [32:44]

“When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’” (John 11:32, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you instinctively turn in crisis? How might daily moments with Jesus reshape your reflexes when pain strikes?

Sermon Summary

Luke 10 puts two sisters in the same house with Jesus, but it shows two completely different experiences. Martha opens her home, gets the dinner going, and starts trying to get all the ducks in a row. Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens. Martha is not doing something bad. Martha is serving Jesus dinner, and that is a good thing. But the passage says Martha is distracted, pulled in every direction, torn between all the things that have to happen.

Jesus exposes something deeper than a messy kitchen. Jesus sees that Martha is worried and upset about many things. The kitchen may be loud, but Martha’s heart is loud too. Jesus does not shame her. Jesus says, “Martha, Martha,” with affection, almost like pulling a chair close and speaking gently into the frenzy. Jesus does not tell her that serving does not matter. Jesus calls her out of her worry, not out of her usefulness.

Mary shows the better portion. Mary is not producing something for Jesus. Mary is receiving something from Jesus. The meal will be eaten, the dishes will be put away, and nobody will remember what was served next week. But what Mary receives at the feet of Jesus will not be taken away from her. Jesus is not saying Mary is the favorite. Jesus is saying the thing that lasts is connection with him.

The ducks in a row image names the way life feels. There are family ducks, job ducks, house ducks, group chat ducks, and sometimes a giant duck shows up right in the middle of the pile. Jesus does not offer a perfect organizational system. Jesus offers a change in perspective. Jesus is right there in the pile. The issue is not that the tasks are bad. The danger is getting so distracted by doing good that Jesus, sitting right in the living room, gets missed.

John 11 shows why this matters. Mary and Martha later face tragedy when Lazarus dies. Mary falls again at Jesus’ feet because she has been there before. Martha has nothing left to do, nothing to fix, nothing to produce. Jesus steps into the impossible and calls Lazarus out of the tomb. Jesus shows that the deepest reality is not what can be done for him, but what he is doing, even when everything feels broken.

Key Takeaways

1. Good things can hide what’s better. Martha’s work was not sinful, lazy, or pointless. The danger was that a good responsibility became loud enough to drown out Jesus in her own house. The passage presses a painful question: a person can serve Jesus and still miss being with Jesus. [11:08]
2. Jesus calls out the frenzy. Jesus does not attack Martha’s serving or pretend dinner does not matter. Jesus names the worry and uproar inside her heart because that is the deeper problem. The Savior is more concerned with the noise inside the soul than the noise in the kitchen. [21:31]
3. The better portion is received. Mary is not earning, performing, or proving anything at Jesus’ feet. Mary is receiving what cannot be taken away. The lasting thing is not the finished task, but the love and presence of Christ that reorders every task. [23:49]
4. Desire grows near Jesus. A heart cannot simply be argued out of loving lesser things. A stronger love has to be seen, tasted, and received. Time at Jesus’ feet is not another box to check, but a place where holy desire can start growing again. [28:52]
5. Tragedy reveals familiar ground. Mary goes to Jesus’ feet in grief because that place was already known to her in ordinary days. When Lazarus dies, doing and fixing run out, but Jesus is still present and powerful. The feet of Jesus become the place where helplessness meets resurrection.

## [32:30]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[04:54] - Ducks in a Row Begins
[06:29] - Loving the Right Things
[07:30] - Sibling Rivalry and the Setup
[08:30] - Martha Opens Her Home
[10:05] - Distracted by Good Things
[14:07] - Pulled in Every Direction
[16:10] - Serving Jesus Versus Being With Jesus
[17:46] - Lord, Don’t You Care?
[20:38] - Jesus Speaks to Martha’s Heart
[23:24] - Mary Chooses the Better Portion
[28:52] - Ten Minutes With Jesus
[31:50] - Mary and Martha Face Tragedy
[34:17] - Lazarus, Come Out
[35:20] - Don’t Miss Jesus

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Luke 10:38-42
“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. 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. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.'” [08:30] [08:37] [09:10] [23:49]

John 11:1-44
“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha... When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.'... Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?'... He cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out.' The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'” [31:50] [32:30] [34:17] [34:41]

Observation questions

In Luke 10, what are Mary and Martha each doing when Jesus is in the house, and how does the passage describe Martha’s condition? [10:05]
What exactly does Martha say to Jesus about Mary, and what does that reveal about how she sees the situation? [17:46]
When Jesus answers Martha, what words does he use to describe what is going on inside her? [20:38]
In John 11, when grief enters the house, where does Mary go again, and what does Jesus do at Lazarus’s tomb? [32:30]

Interpretation questions

Martha is not rebuked for doing something sinful, but for being anxious and troubled in the middle of good work. Why can good responsibilities become spiritually dangerous when they grow louder than attention to Jesus? [11:08]
Jesus says Mary chose “the good portion,” something that will not be taken away. What makes time received from Jesus more lasting than work done for Jesus? [24:20]
Jesus does not tell Martha that dinner does not matter; he speaks to the uproar in her heart. What does that show about the deeper issue in this passage? [21:31]
Mary returns to Jesus’ feet in John 11 during deep loss. How might ordinary nearness to Jesus prepare a person to run to him when life falls apart? [32:53]

Application questions

What are the “good ducks” in life right now that are pulling attention in every direction—family, work, house stuff, messages, responsibilities? Which of those feels most likely to drown out Jesus this week? [12:49]
It is possible to serve Jesus and still miss being with Jesus. Where does that feel most true right now—in church life, at home, in caring for others, or even in personal spiritual habits? [16:39]
Martha’s deeper cry was, “Lord, don’t you care?” Where has that question been surfacing lately? What situation has made that question feel personal? [18:01]
Jesus calls people out of frenzy, not out of usefulness. What does frenzy look like in daily life right now? How would it be noticeable if the heart grew quieter even while the responsibilities stayed the same? [22:12]
The better portion is received, not produced. What makes it hard to come to Jesus with nothing to prove, nothing to finish, and nothing to hand him except attention? [23:49]
Desire does not grow mainly by force, but by staying near Jesus. What would it look like to make room for even ten undistracted minutes with Jesus this week, and what usually interrupts that kind of time first? [28:52]
In John 11, doing and fixing ran out, but Jesus was still present and powerful. When life feels unfixable, where does the heart usually go first, and what would it look like to go to Jesus’ feet instead? [33:54]

Sermon Clips

38s

#ServingVsBeing

“And so here's what I've discovered, and I've learned it the hard way, to be honest with you, is that sometimes it's so much easier to serve Jesus than it is to actually be with Jesus. It's just easier. I mean, like, I know what I'm supposed to do when I'm serving Jesus. I show up, I do the thing, and I feel like, wow. I've done it. I checked the box. But can I tell you, if you spend time serving Jesus, serving Jesus, serving Jesus, and you don't actually spend time with Jesus, it's gonna drain you? It will rob you of joy.”

42s

#DontMissWhatsBetter

“And that's what Jesus is talking about whenever he says, this is better. He's not, like, saying, you know what? Mary is my favorite, and I you know? He's not trying to shame Martha in this situation. He's not saying, wow, Mary's really the holy one here, you know, at the end of the day. He's saying, no. Look. What she's doing cannot be taken away from her. In other words, don't get so distracted by doing something good that you miss what's better. Don't so don't get so distracted in life by things that some of them are good, but don't, in the process of that, miss the thing that's better, and Jesus is sitting right in your living room. And so how do we live this out?”

43s

#HeartOverHustle

“Jesus does not say, stop serving. He doesn't say, like, hey, dinner is not important. Who cares? What you're doing is not a big deal. He never said that once. But he's way, way, way more concerned with what's happening here in Martha's heart than is what what's happening in the kitchen. He cares way more about what's happening in her heart than what's happening in the kitchen. And that means that the problem is not her serving. It's great that Martha is serving. That's fantastic. The problem is not that Martha is getting things done. See, Jesus doesn't call her out of the kitchen. He calls her out of her frenzy. He calls her out of her and her worry and her distraction and her life.”

36s

#GodIsDoingMore

“life is full of competing priorities, never ending to do lists. The ducks keep coming, but but in all of it, God's doing something bigger. No matter what you have to do this week, no matter what your priorities are this week, God is doing something bigger in your life, and you might not even see it. And I I don't want you to be so distracted in life that you miss it. See, don't miss what's better. Don't miss Jesus.”

64s

#FirstThingsFirst

“Martha was trying to earn something. She was trying to earn her way to that Jesus would recognize and realize how important she was and what she was doing was important. And so Martha is producing, trying to produce something for Jesus, but Mary is sitting there and she's, like, just receiving something from Jesus. And then these last five words, and it will not be taken away from her. And that's the whole thing. You wanna get your ducks in a row, you have to make sure that you put the first things first, that you have your first love right. See, everything else that was happening in this house was temporary. I mean, look. At the end of the day, you you're gonna eat the meal. You're gonna forget about the meal. You're not even gonna remember what the meal was the next week. You're gonna put the dishes away. No one is gonna remember what was served. But then then there's Mary, and what she received in this moment could never be taken away. She received this connection with Jesus. She received something from Jesus that would last.”

56s

#JesusInThePile

“And so hear this. Jesus is not trying to make your life easier. In fact, I don't even think that's that's not the point of this message, to be honest with you. I think we're all out here trying to wrangle our ducks, and sometimes there's a pigeon in that's involved actually. But what he's offering is for us to have a change in perspective, a shift in our posture, an understanding of what really matters at the end of the day. And it challenges the way that we view all of the tasks in our life, all the priorities in our lives, all the ducks that we have going on in our lives. And so let me say it like this. You know, at the end of the day, you know, I don't even know if it's about getting our ducks in a row. I think it's about realizing and recognizing that in the midst of the pile, Jesus is right there with you. In the middle of whatever you've got going on, Jesus is in the pile with you.”

33s

#DesireAtHisFeet

“The only thing you can do is realize and recognize there's a better love, there's a deeper love, and that's what Mary understood in this. And so let me say it like this. You can't put desire on your calendar. I mean, you can try to do it, but it doesn't really work. But you can do this. You can't put yourself in a place where desire grows. You can put yourself in a situation where when you put your feet yourself at the feet of Jesus, this desire begins to grow in your heart as you recognize and realize a deeper love, a greater love.”

39s

#GoToHisFeet

“You know, I don't I don't know if Mary or Martha knew what to say to Jesus in this moment, but they knew where to go. They knew to go to the feet of Jesus. Because they've been there before. This was not the first time that Martha that Mary was at the feet of Jesus. She knew where to go because she had been there before even when there wasn't tragedy happening in her life. And so what happens what do we do when tragedy strikes in our lives? Where do we go when life comes crashing in on us and life feels broken and overwhelming?”

70s

#JesusUnderstandsAnxiety

“That's not what Jesus does. Jesus doesn't rise to her level of anxiety. He stays so level in this situation. He doesn't try to fix the situation. He speaks directly to Martha's heart in verse 41, 42. You are worried and upset about many things. He said, I understand that you're worried. I understand that you're upset. These are the words that he's saying here. Both of these words are important. Marimineo, anxiety. I know you have anxiety in your heart. I think we all walk through life and we look at this the pile and we think, wow. I get a little bit anxious when I think about all this stuff that actually has to happen in life. And then she she's upset. And this word literally means, like, uproar, commotion. There's there's something going on in her heart, and it's loud. It's I think she's so worried. She's so upset. She's so anxious. And so in other words, I would say it like this. It wasn't just loud in the kitchen, Martha trying to get things done. There was something loud going on in Martha's heart, and Jesus understood that and spoke directly to it.”

64s

#RelationshipOverValidation

“I think we all ask that question. Lord, don't you care? Blank. Fill on the blank. What is it what is it for you? Don't don't you care? Don't you see what I'm dealing with? Don't you realize and recognize what I've done, the situation I'm in, whatever it is? And that's basically what Martha's saying. She's like, look, Jesus, look at all this stuff I'm doing for you. And she has this deep need for, like, validation from Jesus. And the question underneath the surface is, don't you care? And I think we ask that as well. And let me just say this. It's not that Jesus didn't care. Jesus did care. In fact, he cared so much that Jesus looked at Martha and he said, it's not about what you do. I wanna spend time with you, Martha. He cared so much about her that he was like, the stuff, the dinner is not the thing that's important. I wanna spend time with you, but Martha seemed to miss that. And so Jesus gives her this invitation to sit with Jesus.”

51s

#GreaterLoveChangesUs

“And the issue is that we have all these things that are good, and we have all these things that we need to do. And it's not bad that we have these desires, these loves, these affections, the to do list, the task list. It's not bad. But you can't argue yourself out of out of an affection. In in other words, you know, at the end of the way at the end of the day, you kinda love what you love. And there's a lot of things that happen in life and a lot of things that are important and priorities in life. And so the only way to replace one love with another love is when you find a greater love. The only way that you really can shift your priorities in your heart and your life, you can't just force yourself to do it by grit and, you know, brute force. I'm just gonna will myself to love something else. Doesn't work.”

44s

#PresenceOverProductivity

“Why? Because at the end of the day, I think the study tools that we have are great. I think bible studies are great. I think all the devotionals that we put together and that maybe you read, all of those things are fantastic. I'm not saying any of them are bad, but if we're not careful, even the things that the tools that we have to follow Jesus can be just another duck. That's we have to get in a row, to be honest with you. See, Mary wasn't trying to finish something. She didn't have an agenda. She didn't have a task list. She was receiving something. She had nothing to give, nothing to do for Jesus. She was just receiving. And so here's my ask, is just to spend time at the feet of Jesus. Imagine that you're in his presence this week.”

51s

#NotAboutWhatYouCanDo

“Well, they go to the place where they know where to go, and it's at the feet of Jesus. And at this time, Martha, no matter how hard she tried, whenever you think about this, here's the situation. Martha, she's the doer. She had nothing she could do in this situation. She had nothing left to give. She could not fix this situation. She couldn't step in and perform and do something. Martha is looking at this situation, and she's desperate. She's got she's got nothing. She can't bring her brother back. She that's that's not something she can do. And you probably know the rest of the story. When you're at the feet of Jesus, just like Martha and Mary in this situation, you realize it's not about what you can do or what you can't do.”

59s

#ConfessionsOfDistraction

“You know, no one wakes up on a Tuesday and just says, you know what? I hope that I just am distracted today. I hope that I'm so busy and I've got so many things happening in life today, that I'm too busy to actually have time for God. No one says that. No one says, I'm I hope I'm so distracted by my phone that I miss Jesus in my life today. And so can I just be honest with you? As I say this to you, I am a little bit convicted because I'm not the guy that gets this right all the time. I mean, I'm just like you. I've got all kinds of stuff going on. In fact, let's just be honest. I spent, like, twenty hours this week writing a sermon, fifteen hours this week writing a sermon about Jesus. But there were moments where I had a hard time finding twenty minutes to be with Jesus, where I wasn't distracted by something and something wasn't coming up on my phone or a notification.”

48s

#GoodCanDistract

“Now this is what makes this passage so tough, though, is when I look at all of these ducks, when I see this picture, all of those things are important. Those are, like, things we have to do. It's like what life is all about. You have to pay the mortgage. You have to get the stuff done. Right? And so none of those things are necessarily bad things. They're all really good things. Martha was doing a good thing. It's not like Martha was sinning here. And in fact, I think it would be easier if what Martha was doing was bad. This sermon would be easy. I'd just be like, don't do that. Stop sinning. Like, that that'd be a much easier sermon. It's actually much harder because what Martha's doing is actually a good thing. She's serving Jesus' dinner. That can't be bad. Right?”

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What distracts believers from Jesus' presence?

What contrast exists between Mary and Martha?

How should Christians reorder competing life priorities?