The AMI QT Devotionals July 17-23 are written by David Son, who serves as the college pastor at Symphony Church in Boston.  David, a graduate of UC Berkeley (B.S.) and Gordon-Conwell Seminary (M.Div.), is married to Grace who teaches at a public school.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

“Don’t Just Do Something… Sit There”

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.”

According to Barna Research, after conducting a national survey with the question “Do you read the Bible at least once a week?” the Baby Boomer generation (55+) chimed in at 49%. The millennials were the lowest group, coming in at 24%. Now I don’t know how exact those numbers are, but one thing I can say with confidence: we are currently living in the least Bible-reading generation since the printing press made the Bible available to the public.

Ironically, our information intake has skyrocketed. A study[1] conducted eight years ago showed that the average person consumes about 100,000 words a day. Since then, with the explosion of the social media, that number has grown to around 150,000. Despite the 50% increase in information we are soaking in, we are reading the Word less and less.

But not all of this is necessarily due to an antagonistic view towards God’s Word. Most people (including Christians) simply don’t read books anymore. Our culture is shifting away from reading books and moving towards faster-paced articles and news snippets, designed to give us an adrenaline shot of information. Perhaps we need to take a cue from Mary the sister of Martha. Despite the pressures of all the things she needed to accomplish, and the fast-paced lifestyle exemplified by Martha, she slowed down and sat at Jesus’ feet.

The truth is, in this information saturated culture, when we fail to slow down and sit at Jesus’ feet, reading His Word… we will inevitably miss out on the intimacy of knowing God in the stillness. Today, spend some time slowing down and spending time in stillness at the feet of Jesus.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, help me to slow down for the sake of sitting at Your feet. Help me to see that although there may be a lot of good things going on around me, only “one thing is necessary,” and that is to know You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

[1] https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/the-american-diet-34-gigabytes-a-day/?utm_source=Cultural+Commentary&utm_campaign=85f91e2825-Man+stops+talking+for+17+years&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_51f776a552-85f91e2825-273784321&mc_cid=85f91e2825&mc_eid=1d719dca7f

Bible Reading for Today: Joshua 21-22