Read: Luke 10:38-42
We have heard the Mary & Martha stories our whole lives. Mary & Martha seemingly had two different personalities – with their own strengths and weaknesses.
Martha was hospitable, she was capable, she welcomed others in her home, and she had faith in Jesus. On two different occasions, she went straight to Jesus with her problems and in her distress. She also was great at seeing a need.
Mary was amazing at worshiping Jesus, seeing the “big picture” instead of her to-do list, and she seemed wonderful at keeping her priorities straight.
Martha and Mary had great strengths, but they were both still sinners. They both had room for improvement. Can you imagine if the exasperated Martha had told Jesus when He gently corrected her, “No, Jesus. That’s just Mary’s personality. But I’m a servant. That’s just who I am. I will never change.” No, Martha no doubt absorbed Jesus’ words and took them to heart. It’s okay to have a personality and strengths, because the world would be boring with a bunch of robots. However, it’s not okay to proudly stand firm on our weaknesses. We have to be willing to allow God to mold us into who HE wants us to be.
One of my least favorite phrases I’ve heard and probably have spoken myself is, “That’s just who I am”. Usually those who utter these words are letting you know they are proud of who they are and have zero plans to change. If you have strengths, wonderful. But are you stubborn about your weaknesses? Belittling others, “telling it like it is”, steamrolling others, speaking harshly, or even being lazy can all be things we excuse away with that phrase, “That’s just who I am”. We must always be striving to be more like Jesus. We should never give ourselves and our faults an abundance of forgiveness while giving others next to none. We should aim to give grace to others (and yes, sometimes ourselves), while focusing on bettering ourselves as Christians.
The world is big on personality tests and Enneagram tests, etc. Discovering who we “really are” is very important to many and is not inherently bad. But arriving at these conclusions about ourselves should never actually be our conclusion. We need to be careful we don’t learn who we are and take pride in that. “That’s just who I am” can be a stubborn statement of someone who is not willing to budge or to change. Sure. Embrace your strengths. But recognize your weaknesses. Let’s try saying, “That’s who I tend to be in my flesh, but I’m trying each day to be more like Jesus”.
Bottomline – God gave each of us unique personalities. We see this big time in the account of Mary and Martha. Differences can make the world a beautiful place with lots of progress – as long as we are willing to take these differences and personalities and shape them around who God desires us to be as Christians. We should be aiming to be more like Jesus each day. Though countercultural, it should be less of me and more of Him.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30
Just a Mom’s View 