Hands raised, feet grounded

Years ago, after my graduation from Dallas Theological Seminary, I was in the library of Christ for the Nations (a Charismatic worship and missions school also in Dallas). I ran across this quote in a magazine: “Evangelicals want to nail down the floor boards when they see the ground shifting, but Charismatics just want to reach for the sky.” Some people may see this as an “either/or” choice, but I would say “both/and” is a better way to go here.

I love to worship God in the name of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. So usually, I think of Martha as the “bad sister” and Mary as the “good sister”, because of Jesus’ words to them: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” [Luke 10:38-42] Also at a party later, Mary anointed Jesus with expensive perfume, and wiped His feet with her hair, and Jesus defended Mary and praised her. Extravagant worship, recorded at length in 3 Gospel accounts. When I can, most of the time, I want to worship as Mary did in these 2 cases.

But what about when times are bad? When their brother Lazarus died, and Jesus didn’t show up for 4 days? [John 11:1-45] Did Mary (young, attractive, passionate, emotional, Charismatic “CFNI” Mary) choose what is better then? No. As much as I hate to admit it, she was pouting in her room, and would not go out to meet Jesus. In a time of testing, young Mary flaked out. Jesus didn’t cut Mary off. He patiently waited for her, and accepted her when she finally came out to him. And Mary’s ministry to Jesus was not over. But the sad truth is that, in a moment of immaturity, in spite of all her passion and emotion, Mary cut herself off from Jesus.

It was Martha (older, quiet, conservative, Evangelical “DTS” Martha) who went out to meet Jesus and prove her faith and worship in her own quiet way. When times were hard, Mary was worried and upset about her own hurt feelings, but Martha had the strength to remember God’s Word and choose what is better: Martha chose to be with Jesus anyway. Apart from Jesus, Martha was the hero(ine) of the Lazarus resurrection story. So when times are bad, I want to worship as Martha did here, with my feet on the ground and my hands raised to the sky.