We would like to think that Bible reading and prayer come naturally to believers, but honest experience tells a different story. For most of us, it does not come naturally. Some battle to maintain any consistent pattern of personal devotion. Others are scrupulously regular but find that their lives bear little fruit to match the time spent in the word. They do not grow in humility and love, and their thinking is shaped more by the world than by the Scriptures they read every morning. The majority blow hot and cold, with seasons of fervour and genuine sweetness, followed by seasons of dryness in which the Bible feels like a closed door.
Whatever our situation, one thing is clear: You cannot face today’s temptations with yesterday’s devotion.
Mary and Martha: A Choice with Consequences
Luke 10:38–42 sets before us two believers—one who got her devotional life right, and one who did not. It is worth reading carefully:
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.”
The account is not a rebuke of hospitality or practical service. Both women accepted Jesus, cared about him, and wanted to please him. The difference was one of order. Martha chose to serve before sitting at Jesus’ feet. Mary chose to sit and listen first.
Martha’s task was no small thing. Welcoming Jesus and his disciples meant washing feet, preparing meals, arranging accommodation for a travelling group of men. She was doing much to please him. But she missed the very point of her activity, which was to learn from him. Without sitting to listen, her service overburdened her, made her anxious, and ultimately left her resentful. She so resented her sister that she dared to issue a command to Jesus: “Tell her then to help me.” Service without sitting at Jesus’ feet will always tend in this direction. People let us down. They promise help and disappear. They receive effort with ingratitude. Only the person who has first listened to Christ has the resources to bear those disappointments without bitterness.
Jesus’ reply is gentle but searching: There are many good things, but only one necessary thing. The implication is plain: You will not do the many good things well unless you first do the one necessary thing. As Oswald Chambers put it in My Utmost for His Highest, worshipping God is the great essential of fitness for any kind of ministry. Without it, you will not only be useless but a hindrance to those alongside you.
The Fruit of Listening
Mary’s story does not end in Luke 10. In John 12, on Jesus’ final visit to this family, she took a pound of expensive perfume and anointed his feet, wiping them with her hair. When Judas objected that the perfume could have been sold for a year’s wages and given to the poor, Jesus silenced him: “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial” (John 12:7).
Jesus had spoken of his coming death many times. His own disciples had not understood. Mary understood—because she had chosen to sit at his feet and listen. That intimacy with Christ gave her a knowledge and a sensitivity that even the Twelve lacked. She served him extravagantly, at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right way. Jesus silenced her critics. Her act is still remembered more than two thousand years later.
This is the fruit of genuinely sitting at Jesus’ feet—not a life free of criticism, but a life whose service he accepts and defends.
How to Sit at His Feet
There is only one way to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to his word: by taking up the Bible and reading it. This is not easy, but let me make a few suggestions to help.
Expect difficulty. The Bible reveals the infinite God to finite minds. Peter acknowledged that Paul’s letters contain things “hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16). This is not a reason for discouragement but for preparation. Commentaries, trusted teachers, and a wealth of free resources exist to help. Difficulty is not a sign that something has gone wrong; it is a sign that you are engaging with something larger than yourself.
Don’t find time—make time. The Bible will not open itself on your breakfast table. You need a specific place and a specific time. Whatever time you choose, be wise about it. Do not choose a moment when you are too tired to attend to what God is saying. The goal is to be prepared for the day ahead, not to review it from behind. This is especially urgent for younger people: The habits formed now are the person you are becoming.
Minimise distraction. A physical Bible remains the least distracting tool—no notifications, no alerts, simply the words of God and your eyes reading them. Whatever you use, have a way of taking notes. Underline. Write in the margins. Engage actively rather than merely passing your eyes over the text.
Begin with the New Testament. For those starting out or starting again, the Gospels are the most direct route to sitting at Jesus’ feet—hearing what he said, seeing what he did. The Old Testament is not inferior revelation; it is full revelation. But begin where Christ is most plainly present, and let your understanding of him deepen from there.
Read the text on its own terms. One of the most common errors in personal Bible reading is inserting yourself into every passage as though it were written directly and exclusively to you. Before asking what a text means for you, ask what its author meant to communicate to his original audience. Sound application follows sound understanding.
Pray the passage. When you finish reading, let the text shape your prayer rather than immediately turning to a list of requests. Psalm 119:18 is a fitting posture for every reading: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Pray before you read, during, and after.
Do not give up. Your flesh resists this. The world dismisses it. There is an enemy who will use any distraction to pull you away. If you miss a day, a week, or longer, do not conclude that you have failed irreparably. Return. God’s word is good. YouTube and podcasts may be useful supplements, but they are not substitutes. Listening to others talk about the Bible is not the same as reading it yourself. As a believer, you have the Holy Spirit, who ministers to you as you read his inspired words. Do not outsource that.
One Thing is Necessary
The question Luke 10 leaves us with is simple but searching: Will you do the one necessary thing, or will you spend yourself on the many good things and end up, like Martha, overburdened and resentful?
Mary’s story is not a portrait of someone who avoided responsibility. It is a portrait of someone who chose the right order—who listened before she served, and who therefore, when the moment came, knew exactly what to do and had the faith to do it extravagantly. Her service was accepted. Her critics were silenced. And her act is still remembered.
Sitting at Jesus’ feet is not a passive act. It is the most active and consequential choice a believer can make. Take up the Bible. Read it. Listen. Everything else follows from there.
About the author
Jonathan Tempies is the pastor-teacher of Grace Baptist Church in Amanzimtoti, South Africa. He is married to Christy and together they have three children.
