Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver
Week 3: Chapter 3 — The Approval Addiction
Read Chapter 3 of Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. Primary Scripture: Galatians 1:10; John 12:43.
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Martha's complaint — "Lord, don't you care?" — reveals something deeper than a bad day in the kitchen; it exposes a heart that has drifted from God's approval toward the approval of others. Weaver calls this "the approval addiction," and she asks us to examine our own hearts honestly.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Weaver identifies the approval addiction as one of the primary forces that keeps women trapped in Martha-mode busyness. In her description, what does this addiction look like in practical, everyday terms?
2.When Martha says, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?" (Luke 10:40), Weaver hears more than frustration — she hears a heart that has begun to measure love by acknowledgment. Have you ever served God or others primarily to be noticed or appreciated? What did that feel like when the acknowledgment didn't come?
3.Weaver draws a distinction between doing things for God's approval (which we already have in Christ) and doing things from God's approval. Why is that order so important, and how does getting it backward lead to exhaustion and resentment?
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