What do you think?
Rate this book
Adoration: Mary of Bethany - The Untold Story
Mary of Bethany stands alone in the Gospels. She was the friend of Jesus, sharer of His secrets. She abides, uninhibited and limitless, an eternal emblem of adoration of Jesus.
Mary received from Jesus what no other player in the Redemption Story His never-ending command that where the gospel is preached, the story of her alabaster jar is to be told. This book proclaims her memorial place with extraordinary insight and reverence, laced with the goal of following this quiet one who was the delight of Jesus into our own . . . ADORATION.
Here is a profound gaze at the very human story of two sisters and the stark contrast between what gains God and what loses Him. Martha Kilpatrick quietly and lovingly dispels the hype and reveals the secret of true worship. Now available in both print and digital formats.
Mary received from Jesus what no other player in the Redemption Story His never-ending command that where the gospel is preached, the story of her alabaster jar is to be told. This book proclaims her memorial place with extraordinary insight and reverence, laced with the goal of following this quiet one who was the delight of Jesus into our own . . . ADORATION.
Here is a profound gaze at the very human story of two sisters and the stark contrast between what gains God and what loses Him. Martha Kilpatrick quietly and lovingly dispels the hype and reveals the secret of true worship. Now available in both print and digital formats.
149 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 6, 2012
55 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 10, 2025
oh boy this book had so many punches of truth to the gut! a comparison of living like a Martha vs. a Mary through the verses in the gospels, then an ending on how to live like a Mary. will probably read again one day to get a better understanding; the way it’s written kind of threw me off for a little
July 11, 2014
Changed my life! Having a 'single eye' is really not understood by many, but non-optional for a Christ-follower. Mary's life is an inspiration to act only after hearing - how rare! This is a book that is hard to put down and one that I've gone back to more than once. (How soon we forget what is important!)
October 26, 2023
life changing.
December 1, 2023
Trying not to be Martha and trying to be a Mary is hard work!
Such an easy comparison to how we can have orphan hearts or mature sons in relation to our Heavenly Father.
Martha:
- Serves God to earn the Father’s love
- Driven by the need for success; lives to work
- wants the benefits without the sacrifice
- People respect them and think well of them
- busies herself to never truly knowing and loving God
- Led by logic
- To love your neighbor is to love God
Mary:
- Serves God out of a sense of divine acceptance and favor
- the Spirit leads her into her calling and mission.
- will sacrifice without the benefits.
- Draws people to the Father by their intimate love with Him
- Takes her two treasures, her heart and her time, and gives them wholeheartedly to God. No agenda!
- gives her inner world, surmounts her intellect, diminishes her independence, for the sole purpose of being with Him.
- Led by love
- To love God is to love God, that pours out in love of neighbor
God is willing to be and wants to be the Intimate Companion of the most secret place, the Consummate Lover to the desperate soul.
In God's family, Flesh become workers and Spirit are worshipers. You cannot work for God and worship Him at the same time. Worship concedes that God is everything while work is humanity helping Him in His inadequacy.
Knowledge is always future… therefore dead for the now. That’s safe. No error there, but… faith is current and viable for it is grappling with the urgency of today.
We must have faith and not just head knowledge!
I would rather move Him than understand him. I would desire to wring my broken heart before Him than exercise my mind about Him.
Mary broke her beautiful jar, but that was nothing for she took her own being, heart and soul, and broke it before Him for His use
What you give to Christ is precisely the measure of His worth to you. How much you give, what you give up, how much you keep, these tell the story of His secret merit to you, and… the gauge of your love. At one place or another, by this way or that, He asks for every treasure on this earth because that is the test not only of your obedience but of His esteem within your secret heart.
Somewhere in us all is the inherent vision of just such a Divine Adoration and we are given both hope and despair at the sight of it. The hope to possess it, the despair that another does. A terrible fate would be to never witness it. An even worse fate would be to never experience it.
Haste insults HIM. It says there are other important, more urgent activities than being with the Lord of the Universe. It takes giving Him the costly gift of time to find Him, to hear His heart, to gain the wisdom of where to spend your riches of time.
To the busy, time is always critically short. There is not enough time for the ambitious and the worried.
God requires in this day, the offering of time. Give time to God and you become rich in Him. For to give time is to give your self and He gives HIMSELF in return.
Rest is the first step of work, the beginning of what is a process. To find your particular work and to shed false labors, takes an intense search for your destiny and that only found… in stillness before Him. Making Jesus Lord and Master - and initiator - of your deeds.
The eye of your soul isn’t in physical sight. It is the focus of thoughts, the obsession of the heart… in secret.
The central sin of all sins is simply- the failure to love God. Because it is God’s first order, breaking it is the essential sin, the heart-root from which all other sin is merely a branch.
To you who are weary with labor for Him, and now see there is a way of quiet joy sitting at His feet, I say simply choose as Mary did. Seek Him with all the desire He gives you… and He will come to your village to find you.
Such an easy comparison to how we can have orphan hearts or mature sons in relation to our Heavenly Father.
Martha:
- Serves God to earn the Father’s love
- Driven by the need for success; lives to work
- wants the benefits without the sacrifice
- People respect them and think well of them
- busies herself to never truly knowing and loving God
- Led by logic
- To love your neighbor is to love God
Mary:
- Serves God out of a sense of divine acceptance and favor
- the Spirit leads her into her calling and mission.
- will sacrifice without the benefits.
- Draws people to the Father by their intimate love with Him
- Takes her two treasures, her heart and her time, and gives them wholeheartedly to God. No agenda!
- gives her inner world, surmounts her intellect, diminishes her independence, for the sole purpose of being with Him.
- Led by love
- To love God is to love God, that pours out in love of neighbor
God is willing to be and wants to be the Intimate Companion of the most secret place, the Consummate Lover to the desperate soul.
In God's family, Flesh become workers and Spirit are worshipers. You cannot work for God and worship Him at the same time. Worship concedes that God is everything while work is humanity helping Him in His inadequacy.
Knowledge is always future… therefore dead for the now. That’s safe. No error there, but… faith is current and viable for it is grappling with the urgency of today.
We must have faith and not just head knowledge!
I would rather move Him than understand him. I would desire to wring my broken heart before Him than exercise my mind about Him.
Mary broke her beautiful jar, but that was nothing for she took her own being, heart and soul, and broke it before Him for His use
What you give to Christ is precisely the measure of His worth to you. How much you give, what you give up, how much you keep, these tell the story of His secret merit to you, and… the gauge of your love. At one place or another, by this way or that, He asks for every treasure on this earth because that is the test not only of your obedience but of His esteem within your secret heart.
Somewhere in us all is the inherent vision of just such a Divine Adoration and we are given both hope and despair at the sight of it. The hope to possess it, the despair that another does. A terrible fate would be to never witness it. An even worse fate would be to never experience it.
Haste insults HIM. It says there are other important, more urgent activities than being with the Lord of the Universe. It takes giving Him the costly gift of time to find Him, to hear His heart, to gain the wisdom of where to spend your riches of time.
To the busy, time is always critically short. There is not enough time for the ambitious and the worried.
God requires in this day, the offering of time. Give time to God and you become rich in Him. For to give time is to give your self and He gives HIMSELF in return.
Rest is the first step of work, the beginning of what is a process. To find your particular work and to shed false labors, takes an intense search for your destiny and that only found… in stillness before Him. Making Jesus Lord and Master - and initiator - of your deeds.
The eye of your soul isn’t in physical sight. It is the focus of thoughts, the obsession of the heart… in secret.
The central sin of all sins is simply- the failure to love God. Because it is God’s first order, breaking it is the essential sin, the heart-root from which all other sin is merely a branch.
To you who are weary with labor for Him, and now see there is a way of quiet joy sitting at His feet, I say simply choose as Mary did. Seek Him with all the desire He gives you… and He will come to your village to find you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 18, 2025
This was such a unique way to deep dive into the story of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Jesus in those passages!
October 3, 2024
This book is amazing, it truly exposes you, your heart and where you stand. It exposes your heart in such a way where you re think why am I doing what I’m doing, why am I chasing or seeking these things. It really brings you back to the simplicity, the simplicity of just being with the Lord, knowing him and being loved by him. It’s not about serving him it’s about loving him. Being loved by him. He doesn’t want us to be servants or slaves to him, all he wants is for us to know him and be known by him.
May 19, 2022
adoration is such a beautiful, simple collection of poems. there’s a clear narrative and the author uses repetition to emphasize delicate yet challenging concepts. it’s a great perspective on the martha and mary story that’s moving, honest, and well-written.
it’s a great book to read in your quiet time, in moments you need to go deeper with the Lord, or when you just want to read beautiful poems!
it’s a great book to read in your quiet time, in moments you need to go deeper with the Lord, or when you just want to read beautiful poems!
April 8, 2024
This books captures the essence of Him. Not His miracles, not His deeds, not His healings, but Him. If there is one thing that I have learned from this book, it’s that there is only one thing needed of me: to behold Him, to worship Him, to gaze upon Him. “Adoration,” is the perfect title for this book. Kilpatrick does a wonderful job at getting to the heart of what it means to be with Jesus. It’s simple. Seek first Him, and all these things will be added to you.
August 21, 2022
I read this book years ago and it continues to be one of my top 10 favorite books. Martha Kilpatrick speaks profound truth on each page causing one to read slowly in order to thoroughly digest.
Hopefully I will revisit this book often so the message of Mary of Bethany’s love and reverence for Jesus remains my main focus in life.
Hopefully I will revisit this book often so the message of Mary of Bethany’s love and reverence for Jesus remains my main focus in life.
December 23, 2020
A wonderful read
A very wonderful read. It had a huge depth of how Mary of Bethany loved Jesus Christ and it is very encouraging too. I will be reading this book again in the new year.
A very wonderful read. It had a huge depth of how Mary of Bethany loved Jesus Christ and it is very encouraging too. I will be reading this book again in the new year.
January 16, 2022
A prose based, insightful reflection on the dream and goal to live with a Mary-like heart for Jesus but wisely acknowledges that we live in a world that praises and encourages Martha-isms.
Releases the church kept secret that We are either “anointing His feet or arranging His murder”. Also shines light into the fact that Mary is the only one who is said that her story is to be told with the story of Jesus. This book has taken residence in my heart.
Releases the church kept secret that We are either “anointing His feet or arranging His murder”. Also shines light into the fact that Mary is the only one who is said that her story is to be told with the story of Jesus. This book has taken residence in my heart.
May 17, 2022
stirring love
This book stirs the depth of one’s heart to love Jesus in purity and humility. Simple and short book that is so powerful that it must be read and read over to be infused with its truths.
This book stirs the depth of one’s heart to love Jesus in purity and humility. Simple and short book that is so powerful that it must be read and read over to be infused with its truths.
January 30, 2023
Wonderful!
Just an amazing presence-filled devotional book about sitting at his feet! I could share some favourite quotes from the book, but i would have to share the whole book. Only Him, Jesus!
Just an amazing presence-filled devotional book about sitting at his feet! I could share some favourite quotes from the book, but i would have to share the whole book. Only Him, Jesus!
January 25, 2026
I can’t put my finger on it, but there was just something about this book that made me want to just be in the presence of God. There was some liberty taken in the book but it really challenged me to be in God’s presence.
July 5, 2021
More than Gold
This book must not be read once. You must read it with the Holy Spirit, you must consume it with intensity. Read and read again. The eye must be single indeed
This book must not be read once. You must read it with the Holy Spirit, you must consume it with intensity. Read and read again. The eye must be single indeed
August 22, 2021
Wow. Totally changed my view on many things. Definitely a book you should read one section at a time and really think about. Definitely a book I'll read more than once.
February 22, 2023
words cannot describe how much love i have for this book
May 4, 2024
this book changed my life!
May 27, 2025
i LOVE this book. i’ve read it a couple of times and every time the Lord highlights something new. HIGHLY RECOMMEND
December 25, 2025
It was a good book but a quick short read, you get iyt as much as you put in
January 9, 2026
Appreciated the style of writing and description of adoration Mary could have had for Jesus. Helped to teach me what my own relationship with Jesus could be.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews