I had the privilege to help lead the Technical Director’s Retreat at the WFX conference in Dallas this year. If you have never heard of this or have never been, this part of the conference is worth checking out. It is a chance to hang with other TDs, staff and volunteers, from churches big and small from all over the place. I love it because it is a place that I can be reminded that what I do matters, and that I’m not the only crazy one.
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Anyway, at this past year’s event, I talked about the story of the sisters, Mary and Martha, and their encounter, or lack thereof, with Jesus. Here’s a refresher from Luke 10:
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
I don’t know about you, but this story baffles me…at first. Then it starts hitting a little too close to home.
While Martha was doing what she was made to do (I’m sure she had a hospitality gift), somewhere along the way, she had turned the party into the most important thing, instead of Jesus.
And since the party wasn’t going super great, she was losing it on her sister and on Jesus. My guess is that her identity was wrapped up too much in what she did and not in Jesus.
I love that I have had the privilege over the years to work at a job that I love and feels like what I was made to do. Unfortunately at times, this becomes more than what I do but I derive my worth from how well I’m doing at my job.
I do need to do a good job. I want to do a great job. How God sees me has nothing to do with this. Whether I succeed or fail. Whether there is feedback or a missed graphic, God still feels the same about me.
Am I so wrapped up in my role as a technical artist in the local church, that I lose sight of my true identity?
