“This article, first published in the July/August 2005 issue of InSite magazine, is used with permission. Copyright 2005, Christian Camp and Conference Association.”

Bull’s Eye

One day during college, my political science professor asked me to answer a question.  Taken off guard, I bumbled my way through a rather lame response—the best I could deliver under the circumstances.

The professor slowly turned to the chalkboard and drew a large circle and then a much smaller circle at the center of the large one.  Pointing the piece of chalk to a mark just inside the edge of the big circle, he said, “Mr. Bolin, you hit the target, but you missed the bull’s eye.”

Sadly, in life we often settle for making it onto the target but fail to reach the center of what God created us to be.

Martha, like many of us, had this tendency.  Both she and her sister, Mary, loved Jesus, but they demonstrated their love very differently.  Martha focused on the physical needs of the moment and invested her time serving, cooking, cleaning, and dealing with the material issues that always called for her attention.  Mary, on the other hand, sat at Jesus’ feet listening to His teaching, enjoying His company, and absorbing all she could from their relationship.

While Martha was busy with details, she was fuming.  Eventually, the frustration overflowed into an explosion: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?  Tell her to help me!”

“’Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:40-41).

Sibling rivalry gave way to divine rebuke.  Martha hit the target but missed the bull’s eye in her relationship with God.  She wanted to serve Him more than she wanted to develop the relationship.  Jesus characterized Martha’s condition as “worried and upset.”  Her life was so consumed by the good things of serving, managing details, and caring for responsibilities that she missed the best thing: developing a relationship with Him.

(Motorsport ministry) can attract and reward Marthas as details and physical needs consume our time and energy.  In fact, we can feel good about all we are doing and the sacrifices we are making for the ministry while allowing our relationship with Christ to atrophy.

The demands of (ministry) will always call; the Martha side of your life will always need attention.  God expects us to be responsible in the areas to which He has called us, and responsibility is certainly part of the target at which we aim.  But the bull’s eye should be a heart like Mary who, more than anything, wanted to be with and build her relationship with Jesus.  Don’t settle for hitting the target when you can aim for the bull’s eye.

Dan Bolin
Encouragement FM
Tyler, Texas