Are You Too Busy Doing Good to Be With Jesus? | Ducks in a Row

Aug 21, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When the Kitchen Noise Drowns Out His Voice

Martha’s hands were full of good work—hospitality, service, preparation. Yet the clatter of plates and urgency of tasks drowned out the quiet presence sitting in her living room. Distraction isn’t always about neglecting duty; it’s letting duty’s noise overshadow the One who matters most. Jesus didn’t condemn her work but named the turmoil beneath it: a heart pulled in every direction, mistaking productivity for connection. The invitation isn’t to abandon responsibilities but to anchor them in the stillness of His presence. [10:35]

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “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.” (Luke 10:41-42, ESV)

Reflection: What “good thing” in your life currently feels loudest? How might its noise be keeping you from hearing Jesus’ gentle call to rest at His feet?

Day 2: The Scandal of Sitting When the World Demands Standing

Mary’s posture—sitting at Jesus’ feet—defied cultural expectations. Rabbis didn’t teach women, and sisters didn’t ignore chores. Yet Jesus defended her choice, not as rebellion but as devotion. To sit is to surrender the illusion of control, to trade proving for receiving. In a world that equates value with output, sitting becomes an act of trust: believing His voice matters more than our hustle. [19:03]

She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. (Luke 10:39, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you feel pressure to “stand” (perform, achieve, meet expectations) when Jesus might be inviting you to “sit” (rest, listen, receive)?

Day 3: The Portion That Can’t Be Taken

Martha worked to earn approval; Mary received a gift. Jesus called Mary’s choice “better” because it couldn’t be stolen—unlike temporary tasks, communion with Him endures. Our to-do lists will fade, but time in His presence reshapes eternity. The meal Martha prepared was forgotten; the truth Mary absorbed became part of her story. Priorities aren’t about eliminating tasks but anchoring them in what lasts. [20:25]

“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm 16:11, ESV)

Reflection: What task or responsibility feels urgent today? How might viewing it through the lens of eternity change your approach?

Day 4: When the Pile of Ducks Becomes an Altar

Life’s demands often feel like a chaotic pile of ducks—messy, overwhelming, impossible to organize. Yet Jesus isn’t waiting for us to line them up perfectly; He meets us in the pile. Mary’s example shows that holiness isn’t found in tidiness but in surrender. The kitchen wasn’t Mary’s enemy, but her willingness to walk away from it revealed her true priority: Christ Himself. [23:27]

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you need to stop trying to “fix the pile” and instead invite Jesus into it?

Day 5: Training Your Knees for the Crisis You Can’t Fix

Years later, when Martha faced her brother’s death, she instinctively ran to Jesus’ feet—the same place Mary had trained her heart to go. Crisis reveals where we’ve practiced presence. Daily habits of sitting with Him prepare us to collapse toward Him, not away, when life shatters. Martha’s grief didn’t erase her growth; her feet knew where to run. [29:04]

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

Reflection: What small daily practice could you start now to build “muscle memory” for running to Jesus in future trials?

Sermon Summary

Jesus does not offer a productivity hack for getting every duck lined up just right. Jesus changes the way priorities get seen, loved, and ordered. Luke 10 places Martha and Mary in the same house, with the same Jesus, in the same moment, but having two completely different experiences.

Martha opens her home, serves the meal, handles the preparations, and does something genuinely good. Mary sits at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he says. The tension is not between sin and holiness, or laziness and hard work. The tension is between being so distracted by doing good that what is better gets missed.

The word “distracted” carries the sense of being pulled in every direction, torn by all the things that have to happen. Martha is not failing at hospitality. Martha is actually good at it, and that makes the danger harder to see. The problem is not that she is serving. The problem is the frenzy, the anxiety, and the loudness in her heart.

Jesus answers Martha with tenderness, not with a game plan. Jesus says, “Martha, Martha,” and that repeated name carries affection, not shame. Jesus does not rise to her anxiety, and he does not simply fix the kitchen problem. Jesus speaks to the deeper issue, “You are worried and upset about many things.”

Mary’s place at Jesus’ feet is the posture of a student before a rabbi, and in that culture, that picture is shocking. Jesus does not send her away. Jesus receives her there and says she has chosen the better portion. The portion is not something earned. The portion is something received.

The dinner will be eaten, the dishes will be put away, and nobody will remember the menu a week later. The connection with Jesus will not be taken away. The ducks-in-a-row image exposes the real issue: the pile is real, the responsibilities matter, and the to-do list may not disappear. But Jesus is right there in the middle of the pile.

The call is not simply to do less, quit everything, or make life easier. The call is to put the heart in a place where desire for Jesus can grow. The practice of sitting with Jesus with no agenda, no phone, no task list, and nothing to prove makes space to receive what cannot be taken away. John 11 shows why that matters, because Mary knows where to go when tragedy comes. She falls again at Jesus’ feet, and there Jesus does what Martha and Mary cannot do. Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave, because God is doing something bigger than the pile.

Key Takeaways

1. Good work can still distract Martha’s serving is not treated as evil, and that is what makes the warning so sharp. Good responsibilities can still pull the heart in every direction until Jesus becomes the one standing unnoticed in the living room. The danger is not always rebellion against God, but service for God that quietly loses time with God. [06:56]
2. Jesus calls hearts from frenzy Jesus does not shame Martha, and he does not simply organize her workload. Jesus names the worry and uproar beneath the activity, because the kitchen noise is not the deepest noise in the room. Christ’s tenderness goes after the anxious heart, not just the unfinished task. [16:21]
3. The better portion is received Mary’s portion is not a reward for better performance. A portion is received, not earned, and Mary is sitting in the place where she can receive from Jesus instead of trying to produce for him. What Jesus gives there cannot be taken away, even after the meal is forgotten and the dishes are done. [19:28]
4. Desire grows at Jesus’ feet The heart cannot be argued out of one love by sheer willpower. A lesser love is displaced when a greater love becomes visible and desirable. Time with Jesus, without an agenda or a box to check, places the soul where that deeper desire can actually grow. [24:40]
5. Practice the feet before crisis Mary falls at Jesus’ feet in grief because she had already learned that place in ordinary days. Crisis rarely creates spiritual reflexes from nothing, but it reveals where the heart has learned to go. The feet of Jesus become familiar before tragedy, so that when life breaks, the soul knows its way home.

## [28:14]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:57] - When the Ducks Are Missing
[01:56] - Jesus Changes Priorities
[04:12] - Martha and Mary in Luke 10
[05:18] - Two Sisters, Two Experiences
[06:10] - Distracted by Good Things
[08:20] - The Pile of Ducks
[10:05] - Pulled in Every Direction
[12:15] - Serving Jesus Without Being With Jesus
[13:44] - Lord, Don’t You Care?
[15:17] - Jesus Speaks to Martha’s Heart
[18:11] - Mary at the Feet of Jesus
[19:28] - The Better Portion
[24:40] - Ten Minutes With No Agenda
[27:33] - Mary Returns to Jesus’ Feet
[29:58] - Lazarus Comes Out of the Grave

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Luke 10:38-42
“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 only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'” [04:12]

John 11:32-44
“When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 'Where have you laid him?' he asked. 'Come and see, Lord,' they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, 'See how he loved him!' But some of them said, 'Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?' Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 'Take away the stone,' he said. 'But, Lord,' said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 'by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.' Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?' So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.' When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.'” [29:58]

Observation questions

In Luke 10, what are Martha and Mary each doing while Jesus is in the house, and how does the passage describe Martha’s inner condition? [05:18]
What does Martha actually say to Jesus, and what does that reveal about how overwhelmed she feels in that moment? [13:44]
In Jesus’ response to Martha, what words does he use to describe her, and what does he say Mary has chosen? [19:38]
In John 11, what does Mary do again when she comes to Jesus, and what does Jesus do at Lazarus’s tomb that Martha and Mary could not do for themselves? [28:16]

Interpretation questions

Martha is doing something good, not something evil. Why can good responsibilities still become spiritually dangerous when they pull the heart away from Jesus? [06:56]
Jesus does not shame Martha or simply solve the dinner problem. What does his gentle answer show about the kind of care he gives to anxious and upset people? [16:21]
Jesus says Mary chose “what is better” and that it “will not be taken away from her.” What makes time at Jesus’ feet better than even necessary and meaningful work? [19:28]
Mary is found at Jesus’ feet in both Luke 10 and John 11. What might that repeated posture suggest about how ordinary time with Jesus shapes a person for seasons of grief and crisis? [27:33]

Application questions

What are the “good things” in life right now that may be pulling the heart in every direction? Which responsibilities feel most likely to crowd out simple attention to Jesus? [07:08]
It is possible to serve Jesus without really being with Jesus. Where might that be happening right now—in church life, at home, or even in personal spiritual habits? [12:15]
Jesus speaks to worry and inner uproar, not just unfinished tasks. When life feels loud, what usually reveals that the heart is becoming frantic—irritation, resentment, numbness, constant phone-checking, or something else? [17:14]
Jesus is not asking people to earn a portion from him but to receive from him. What makes receiving hard right now? Is it hurry, guilt, distraction, the need to feel useful, or something else? [19:49]
Desire for Jesus grows by being with him, not by forcing feelings. What would ten minutes with no agenda actually look like this week? What would need to be set aside so that time could be real? [24:40]
Mary knew where to go in grief because she had already learned that place in ordinary days. When pressure or sadness hits, where does the heart usually run first, and what might help it learn to go to Jesus more quickly? [28:42]
The pile of responsibilities may not disappear, but Jesus is present in the middle of it. What would it look like this week to remember that Jesus is in the pile and not just waiting on the other side of a finished to-do list? [23:24]

Sermon Clips

38s

#ChoosePresenceOverPerformance

“And so here's what I've discovered, and 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.”

43s

#DontMissWhatsBetter

“And that's what Jesus is talking about whenever he says, this is better. He's not, like, saying, you know what? Mary's 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?”

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 pitching 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.”

45s

#HeartOverHustle

“And so notice this, though. 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 is 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's serving. That's fantastic. The problem is not that Martha's 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 anxiety and her worry and her distraction and her life.”

41s

#FirstThingsFirst

“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.”

50s

#FindAGreaterLove

“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 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. It doesn't work.”

36s

#DontMissGodsWork

“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.”

41s

#PulledInEveryDirection

“But what's what's the problem that's under the surface here is what Jesus says. Says that she was distracted. And this word distracted is used one time only once in the entire scripture, and it's this word, And that word, this is the word Jesus uses for for Martha in this, in this passage. It literally means that I'm pulled in every direction, that I'm, like, torn in two different directions. Like, I know I have this I have to do. I know I have that I have to do, and I'm not quite sure how to do it all or what the priority actually is.”

27s

#RestAndReceive

“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.”

56s

#DontLetGoodStealBest

“And Martha, like so many of us, was just looking at the pile of stuff that had to happen in order for this dinner party to go off. Right? She was looking at the to do list. Now I'm sure none of us, we never do that. Right? But, I mean, that's come on. Let's be honest. Of course, we do. We all think about the to do list, all the priorities of life that seem to come at us on any given day. And for so many of us, what I realize what I recognize is that all of those things that we have to do are many of them are very good. Many of them are important. Many of them are things you have to get done, just like Martha had to get this done. But here's what I don't want us to miss or what I think's under the surface of this passage today, is that sometimes we get so distracted by doing good that we actually miss what's better.”

59s

#JesusSeesTheHeart

“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. 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.”

63s

#CalledByName

“And so Jesus gives her this invitation to sit with Jesus. So just sit down. I wanna sit down with you. And Jesus looks at what's Jesus' response? You can sense the anxiety and the frustration in Martha's voice. And how does Jesus respond? Does he rise to her level of anxiety? You know, he looks right at Martha in her eyes, and he says, Martha. Martha. Now when you when he says her name twice like that, he looks at her and says her name twice, that's like a that's like a way to say it. It's like a a sign of affection. It's almost like you could imagine Jesus wanting to pull up a a chair close to Martha and say, like, hey. I I know what I'm about to say to you isn't easy, but it's said in love. And I want you to hear this with my heart on her in, the the heart that I have to say it. And so she says this he says this her name gently twice.”

65s

#BeStillAndListen

“And just there's nothing that you have to give him. You can't give him anything and just be there willing and ready to receive. And here's what is gonna happen. You're gonna sit there for about ninety seconds, and then you're gonna think about the thing that you have to do. And when that happens, it's okay. It does not mean that you're bad at this. It doesn't mean that you're incapable incapable of it. It probably just means that you're out of practice, like, basically, all of us. It might mean that this is, the first time that you've sat down without something that you actually have to do in months, maybe even years. And our our minds are so loud and all the things and the voices and the things that have to happen come so quickly. And so just do your best to move through that and realize and recognize that it will get easier, and see what Jesus has to say to you. Because I have a feeling that those ten minutes are gonna be more valuable than the 10 things that you have to do that day because that's what's gonna actually last at the end of the day. Those things cannot be taken away from you.”

72s

#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'd 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? Well, they go to the place where they know where to go, 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.”

44s

#PresenceOverPrograms

“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.”

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