When I was first introduced to Tommy Tenney's and his famous book - God Chasers ... the book came in a special manner ... a friend actually shipped it from USA for me .... with a few other books. He was so convicted that the book was so good that I just got to read it ...
So, when I saw Chasing God Serving Man in the store that day, I just knew I needed to pick the book up to read ....
Now, this book has answered my question and struggle with the Mary and Martha syndrome .. guess this book is a book bring along timely to minister to me ...
I love this profound truth : "Jesus went from a borrowed womb to a borrowed tomb in search of a place to rest His head. The outrageous paradox of this picture is the fact that this was the Incognito Owner, the Divine Creator who was begging for enough hospitality to be born in the lowly realm of the created".
This is what Christmas is about ... our Creator reaching out in the form of human to give us the GiFT of His everlasting love - eternal life .... He has come to live among us ... Emmanuel ... but sad to say, just as He cannot find a place to stay more than 2000 years ago, our Creator, Emmanuel is still finding it difficult to find a place to rest His head.
Our bodies are His Temple .. He comes and live with us .. question : can Jesus find a home in our "body/temple" Does He feel welcome or do we welcome Him in the first place? How is the condition of our "body"? Is He comfortable in our "body"?
Like wise, there are many churches around that may looks magnificent and majestic on the outside but in the inside .... sad to say .... He cannot find a place to rest - the hearts of the people has turned cold, they may have turned His house into a market-place .....
Tenney proposes that Jesus feels welcome in the home of Mary and Martha because in their home, Mary entertained His divinity and Martha hosted His humanity ..... Mary's vertical ministry goes straight to the heart of God and Martha's ministry goes straight from the heart of God to the heart of men. We need both ministry in the Body ....
How true that God leads us into different seasons .. and seasons on the other side of our comfortable zone ...
This reminds me of the seasons God brought me ..... first He asked me to resign from my work .... and step out by faith to serve Him .... He then brought me through a Mary season ... 5months I will with a few people (Ps Betty, Suzie, Sujatha, Bro Joseph ...), we will gather in church to pray ... every night 8-10pm .... and people think that we are crazy .... and this season was glorious ... exciting ....
Then God suddenly moved me into a season of Martha for the next 3 years of serving full time ... and to be pulled out from the Mary season just like that was a huge adjustment ... off course I complained, murmured and struggled because I could not understand what was going on ... it was a time of breaking and molding .... a time of spring cleaning the "house" ....
From Martha season, God moved me again .. and this time into TTC .... somewhere I did not want to go initially because it was on the other side .. that I was not comfortable and familiar ... I struggled because I wanted to be on familiar grounds ... a place like TCA ... which I was more comfortable ... off course .. in order to extend the cords of my tent, God needs to move me to new grounds and stretch me .... test my "ropes" to see if it can take the new tent He is giving me ... :0 .... TTC, a season of Mary and Martha ... mixed .... but more often its Martha than Mary ... what was God doing here? aaahhhh ... that's why He brought this book to enlighten me on my experience ... :0
So, dear friends, I echo Tenney's words that we should expect to experience transition and movement from one season to the next in your life. "Don't act so offended when God's purpose require you to go back and forth between Martha's kitchen and Mary's position" ... lol ... when that first happen to me ... I was so offended ... lolz...
Yes, I remember, He seem to always want to move and change my seasons so that I am "weak" .. I cant make it, I cant do it ... so, I become God dependent instead of self dependent ... God is going to change my season very soon ... I should not be afraid of change ... of the unknown ... cos it is then I am drawn closer to Him because I am God dependent and not Eng Ing dependent ... what an honor to be called to another season .... on the other side ....
What the conclusion to my Mary & Martha struggle -- Tenney's proposal : Keep chasing God while serving men ... Lord, may You help all of us to build a Bethany, a house of balanced passion and compassion ... have mercy on us and teach us Your ways .... may we never look our focus on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith ...
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