This 5-day devotional draws directly from Forest Baptist Church's sermon “June 21st, Morning Worship - 2026-06-22” so you can keep engaging with the message all week. Read, reflect, and share it with your small group or friends.
When You're Pulled in Every Direction
Monday — Understanding the Truth
What was the first thing you reached for this morning — your phone or your Bible?
Today's Scripture "Martha was distracted by her many tasks… but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her." — Luke 10:40, 42
Reflection Jesus showed up at Martha's house, and she missed it. Not because she was doing something terrible — she was cooking, cleaning, hosting. She was busy doing good things. But somewhere in the rush of it all, she lost sight of the one thing that actually mattered: the person sitting in her living room.
Sound familiar?
We live in a world designed to keep us distracted. Notifications, news feeds, email threads, and endless scrolling have quietly trained us to be always moving, always producing, always consuming — but rarely still. And here's the thing: all that busyness isn't just wearing us out. It's pulling us away from God.
Jesus didn't scold Martha for caring about dinner. He gently redirected her to what was most important. His words weren't a rebuke — they were an invitation. Come and sit. Be present. Everything else can wait.
Mary understood something Martha had forgotten in the chaos: being with Jesus matters more than doing things for Jesus. Presence before productivity. That's the truth at the heart of this week.
Today's Step Sit quietly for two minutes today — no phone, no screen — and ask yourself honestly: Am I more comfortable doing things for God than simply being with him?
A Closing Thought The good news is that Jesus is still in the room, still speaking. There's always time to pull up a chair.
The Distraction Is Real — and So Is the Struggle
Tuesday — When It's Hard
You sat down to pray, or read your Bible, and within a minute your mind was somewhere else entirely. You're not alone, and you're not failing.
Today's Scripture "Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to serve alone?'" — Luke 10:40
Reflection Notice what distraction did to Martha. It didn't just scatter her attention — it made her anxious, resentful, and even a little accusatory toward Jesus. Don't you care? That's a heavy thing to say to the Son of God. But distraction has a way of doing that to us. It pulls us out of peace and drops us into a low-grade panic we can't quite name.
The average American now spends nearly five hours a day in front of a screen. Studies show that four hours or more doubles the risk of anxiety and raises the risk of depression by more than half. We feel it, don't we? The restlessness. The sense that we can never quite catch up. The inability to sit still even when we desperately want to.
And when we try to spend time with God — really try — the phone dings, the watch buzzes, the to-do list surfaces, and forty-seven seconds later we've lost the thread completely.
This is a real struggle. It's not a character flaw or a sign of weak faith. It's the water we swim in every day. Naming that honestly is actually the first step toward something better.
Today's Step Don't try to fix anything today — just notice. Pay attention to how often your hand reaches for your phone, especially in quiet moments. Awareness is where change begins.
A Closing Thought God isn't frustrated with your distracted heart. He's gently, patiently calling you back — just like he did with Martha.
One Small Shift That Changes Everything
Wednesday — Putting It Into Practice
What if the most spiritually significant thing you did today took only twelve minutes?
Today's Scripture "She sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to what he said." — Luke 10:39
Reflection Mary's posture tells us everything. She wasn't standing over Jesus with a clipboard. She wasn't multitasking. She sat down, got low, and listened. That posture — humble, unhurried, attentive — is what Jesus called the one necessary thing.
The good news is that you don't need a monastery or a three-hour morning routine to practice this. At the average reading pace, you can read through the entire Bible in just twelve minutes a day. Twelve minutes. That's one fewer scroll through social media. That's the length of a short podcast episode. It's genuinely doable.
Here are a few small, practical moves that can help. First, consider where your phone sleeps at night. If it's the first thing your hand touches in the morning, try charging it in another room and keeping a Bible on your nightstand instead. Second, before you open any app in the morning, open one chapter of Scripture. Just one. Third, if silence feels uncomfortable — and for many of us it does — start with just two or three minutes of quiet before you read.
George Mueller, a man known for his extraordinary prayer life, made a simple rule: feed your soul before you feed your body. Let God's word be the first voice you hear in the day.
Today's Step Tonight, move your phone out of your bedroom — or at least across the room — and place something to read from Scripture where your phone usually sits.
A Closing Thought Small habits, practiced faithfully, have a way of quietly reshaping a life from the inside out.
The Difference a Quiet Morning Makes
Thursday — What This Looks Like in Real Life
Imagine someone who hasn't opened a Bible in months — not out of rebellion, just out of busyness. What would it look like if that changed?
Today's Scripture "You are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary." — Luke 10:41–42
Reflection Picture someone — maybe someone a lot like you — who starts every morning the same way. Phone in hand before feet hit the floor. Email, news, social media, texts from last night. By the time the coffee is brewed, the anxiety is already running.
One week, almost on a whim, this person tries something different. They leave their phone on the charger and sit with a cup of coffee and a Bible. Just fifteen minutes. No agenda, no reading plan. Just a chapter, slowly, with a little quiet afterward.
The first morning feels awkward. The second, a little less so. By the end of the week, something has shifted — not dramatically, not all at once, but noticeably. The morning feels less frantic. There's a steadiness underneath the day that wasn't there before. Problems haven't disappeared, but there's a different posture toward them. Less reactive. More grounded.
This is what Jesus was pointing Martha toward. Not a guilt trip about the dishes, but an invitation into something better. When we prioritize presence with God — even imperfectly, even briefly — it changes the texture of everything else. We move through the day differently. We listen better. We worry a little less.
The devoted soul isn't a perfect soul. It's just a soul that keeps coming back to sit at Jesus's feet.
Today's Step Think of one person in your life who seems genuinely grounded and peaceful. Consider asking them what their time with God actually looks like day to day.
A Closing Thought You don't have to have it all figured out — you just have to keep showing up.
Take This With You Into the Weekend
Friday — Carrying It Forward
The week is almost over. The weekend is full of its own noise and demands — but so was Mary's house, and she chose well anyway.
Today's Scripture "He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." — Psalm 23:3–4
Reflection All week we've been sitting with one simple, life-giving truth: fight distraction by devotion. Treasure Christ above all else — above the scroll, above the productivity, above the noise.
That's not a one-time decision. It's a daily posture. And the weekend, if we're honest, can be the hardest time to maintain it. Schedules loosen, screens multiply, and the rhythms that help us stay grounded during the week can quietly disappear by Saturday morning.
But here's the encouragement the Psalms offer us: God is the one who restores. You don't have to manufacture peace or manufacture presence. You just have to come. Even when the week has been scattered. Even when you didn't get to your Bible every morning. Even when distraction won more rounds than devotion did. He restores.
Mary didn't earn her place at Jesus's feet by being more disciplined than Martha. She simply chose to be there. And Jesus said that choice — that one good, simple choice — would not be taken from her.
This weekend, you get to make that choice again. It might look like a quiet Saturday morning before the house wakes up. It might be a short prayer in the car. It might just be a moment of stillness before the busyness begins.
Today's Step Before the weekend fully arrives, decide on one specific moment — even five minutes — when you'll choose presence over productivity. Put it in your mind now so you're ready when it comes.
A Closing Thought Every day is a new chance to pull up a chair and sit at the feet of Jesus — and he is always glad when you do.