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.”
Luke 10:40-42, ESV
If you grew up with siblings, chances are you quarreled when they tried to get out of chores. You resented that they were not obeying, and relished the opportunity to bring it to mom’s attention and stir up a little trouble. Similarly, you resent the teammate that does not carry their load or the coworker who takes shortcuts. It’s easy to think of this as righteous and justified anger. After all, you were doing your part!
For the Christian, considering ourselves righteous because of our works is a dangerous trap. It is the fallacy that most religions in the world are founded upon, and one that too many Christians embrace. We know that we can’t earn our way into heaven, but we forget that when we are focusing on the works of others, we are not honoring God. In the midst of doing good, we can still be in sin if we carry anger towards others regarding their works.
What then is the role of works? Primarily, our works should focus on spreading the message of salvation (See Matthew 28:19-20). We want to invite others to come and sit at the feet of Jesus and hear as Mary did. We tend to get less resentful or concerned about our works when we see that they bless others in this way.
The righteousness we should hunger for is not that of works; instead, we seek to be righteous in the eyes of God through grace and faith. When God looks upon us and sees the covering of the blood of Christ, He sees our sin no more, and we are restored to a right relationship as His child.
Just as we have seasons in our lives, we have seasons in our faith. We all need some time to be like Mary and sit and learn at God‘s feet. But sometimes we also need to be Martha, working behind the scenes so that others can stop, listen, and learn.
Our works should be done with a grateful heart, knowing that God is using us to point the way for others, and that we are the servants God has put in their paths. This doesn’t make us more righteous in God’s sight, but it certainly adds to our blessings.