Intimacy with God is the bedrock of a life of service to God. Intimacy with God is close familiarity or friendship with Him, which is fostered by communion or fellowship with Him. Communion has been defined as, “the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a mental or spiritual level.” Effective service to God flows from fellowship or communion with Him. The response Jesus gave Martha, when she complained that her sister, Mary, had left her to serve  alone, indicates this truth : “And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Lk 10:41-42). Martha had done a commendable thing by having welcomed Jesus into her house. However, she also made a grave mistake, like we often do, by presuming that working herself into hysteria, all in the hope of serving Jesus, would impress Him.
    It is not how much sacrifice we think we can make for God that impresses Him, but how much of it is made in obedience to Him. Martha felt that Mary was guilty of dereliction of duty, but Jesus did not share her sentiments. Rather, He commended Mary for having chosen the good part. What was the “good part” Mary had chosen? It was her willingness to fellowship with Jesus by listening attentively to Him. She valued the words of Jesus more than all else. God craves our attention more than anything else we think we can give Him or do for Him. This is because any attempt we make to serve Him, without first learning to share ourselves with Him in the solitude of intimate communication, will miss the mark. The reason for that is that God Himself dictates the nature or form of service He wants from us at any given time.
    It is important for us to remember what God says in Isaiah concerning His word : “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isa 55:11). From the scriptural text above, it is clear that God’s pleasure (His will) can only be accomplished by His word, as He utters it. God is never impressed with the presumptuous attempt to serve Him, while ignoring or neglecting what He says. Human service to God is pleasing to Him only to the extent to which it reflects an acceptable response to His instructions. This is why the Bible says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (Jn 6:63). That was the part which, unfortunately, Martha had neglected.
    Right from the inception of the history of humanity, God wanted man first and foremost to fellowship with Him, before any other thing. In Genesis, He said, “…Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;…” (Gen 1:26). The dominion mandate God gave Adam and Eve was intended to be their service to God. They were to ‘rule’ over the earth as God’s representatives. God Himself had decided it should be that way. In other words, the earth was their mission field.  They were to fill the earth with the glory of God, which they carried around. God wanted the whole earth to become Eden—a place of delight and pleasure produced by God’s presence. God’s eternal purpose has always been that it should be on earth as it is in heaven. The primary reason why the earth exists is to be an extension of God’s rule—His kingdom. However, they could only render effective service to God, if they remained intimate with Him. Like Adam and Eve, your effectiveness in representing God in your sphere of influence depends on your communion with Him. Shalom.