In the sermon this past Sunday, we looked at how Jesus sees performance-based idols in the story of Martha and Mary. In Luke 10, Jesus addresses Martha’s idol of performance and, through her example, we see how performance-driven idols negatively impact our most important relationships. Performance-driven idols occur when we allow our satisfaction in life to hinge on our performance or the performance of others. When our lives are driven by idols of performance, the result is that, like Martha, we miss out on what Jesus has for us. We allow tasks to trump relationships and drive wedges between us and the people we love the most by choosing the distraction of tasks over depth of relationships.
Questions for Reflection
1.Do you allow your satisfaction in life to hinge on how others see your performance as a parent, employee, friend, etc?
2.Do you find yourself accomplishing tasks and then finding subtle ways to make sure that people notice?
3.Does it crush you when you feel like you don’t meet someone else’s expectations?
4.Do you find more validation in the opinions of others or the Word of God?
5.What is your ultimate goal in life: to stand respected before men or to stand accepted before God?
