Make Mine a Double Dip Cone

“We ought to be Martha and Mary in one: We should do much service and have much communion at the same time. For this we need great grace. It is easier to serve than to commune. Joshua never grew weary in fighting with the Amalekites; but Moses, on the top of the mountain in prayer, needed two helpers to sustain his hands.” – C.H. Spurgeon

Two of my favorite ice cream flavors are chocolate peanut butter and black raspberry. If Deanna and I stop in an ice cream parlor and both flavors are on their menu, what am I supposed to do? Easy answer… order a double-dip cone!

My friend, life isn’t always an either/or proposition. For instance, Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it very clear that we are saved by grace through faith, not by our own works. After all, Isaiah 64:6 tells us that our righteous acts are nothing but ‘filthy rags” in God’s sight.

However, if we read on in Ephesians chapter 2 to verse 10, we discover that one of the natural byproducts of our salvation should be “good works.” In fact, God prepared those good works for us – and us for them – even before our salvation.

By the same token, Mary and Martha both got it right in that we are called to sit at Jesus’s feet, to soak in His teachings… AND to serve Him by applying what we just learned. Where Martha went off track was neglecting to commune with Jesus first.

As Charles Spurgeon explains it, “Her fault was that she grew ‘distracted with much serving,’ so that she forgot Him and only remembered the service. She allowed service to override communion, and so presented one duty stained with the blood of another.”

SIT… SOAK… and then SERVE.

“So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.” James 2:17-18 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President