JESUS WITH MARY AND MARTHA.
Jesus was not angry with Martha; He only told her not to be so full of care about earthly things, but to care most for listening to His words. We cannot hear Christ's voice now, but we can hear and read His words still. Do you know where they are found? In the Bible.
Our Lord prayed a great deal. Sometimes He prayed all night long; He loved to pray to His Father in Heaven. And one day He told a pretty story to His disciples to teach them how to pray.
Two men went into the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed, and said, "God, I thank Thee that I am not as bad as other men, or even as this publican; I obey Thy law." The publican stood a great way off and would not lift up so much as his eyes unto Heaven, but struck his breast with his hand to show he was sorry, and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner."
The Pharisee boasted how good he was; the publican only asked God to forgive him. Which of the two prayed best? Our Lord said the publican did; for God will not hear the prayers of the proud, but listens to those of the humble.
THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN.
The Lord Jesus has told us that God will give us what we ask for in prayer if we do not pray for wrong things. He says, "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." The meaning is, If you ask God's help, He will give it; if you seek to find out what is His will, you will find it; if you beg God to make you understand His word, He will let you; for Our Lord said, "If a son ask his father for bread, will he give him a stone, or, if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?"—that is, a snake. No; you know he will not. Since, then, even men who are not good will be kind to their children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to them who ask Him! The Lord loves to hear the prayer of a little child. You may pray when you like; at your mothers knee, or in the day if you feel you want God's help. He will hear you if you say in your mind, "Make me a good child, for Christ's sake."
One day a lawyer stood up from among the crowd who listened to Our Lord and asked Jesus a question. He did it to try the Lord and see if He would say something that the priests might think wrong. He said, "Master, what shall I do to gain eternal life"—that is, life in Heaven? And Jesus said, "What is written in the law?" And the lawyer said, "The law tells me that I must love the Lord my God with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength, and my neighbour as myself." Our Lord said, "You have answered right; do this and live." But the lawyer, not yet satisfied, asked, "Who is my neighbour?" And Our Lord answered by telling him a pretty story.