Too busy for Jesus this Christmas? Slow down
We can become so busy, especially at this time of year, that we don’t have time for God. We can be so busy celebrating Christmas that we lose Jesus. We string the lights, trim the tree, and buy the gifts. And during all this busyness, we can forget all about the Lord. We Americans are so busy. You could write on our tombstones, “Hurried. Worried. Buried.”
We’re always rushing about, and that is more evident at Christmas than at any other time of year. Lines are long and tempers are short. Christmas is not about presents under a tree, it’s about His presence in our lives.
Sometimes we become so busy working for God we begin to forget the God we are working for. In the same vein, we can become so busy and distracted with our preparations for Christmas, we lose the very reason we celebrate in the first place.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The classic example of this sort of distraction is the story of Jesus coming to the home of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus, in Luke chapter 10.
They little family lived in the town of Bethany, just a short walk from Jerusalem. Jesus would often come and visit them. On this particular day, I wonder if He arrived at the door unannounced. “Hello Martha and Mary. We’re here for lunch. By the way, I brought a few friends — 12 in all.”
Martha was probably well-qualified to whip up a feast for the Lord she loved. I’m guessing that she was a terrific cook and hostess. But on this particular occasion, all was not well with Martha. As she was in the kitchen getting the meal ready for Jesus and His men, she grew frustrated because Mary wasn’t at her side assisting her.
From her work station in the kitchen area, she probably kept shooting glances at her sister, wondering to herself, “What’s up with Mary? What is she doing? Why is she just sitting there at the Lord’s feet instead of helping me? It’s not fair!”
In Luke 10:40 we read that “Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing.” The Greek word translated “distracted” means “to be pulled away.” It’s a word that refers to someone who is drawn away from their main focus.
The more Martha thought about the unfairness of her situation, the angrier she became. Finally, when she couldn’t stand it any longer, she burst out of the kitchen — probably wearing her food-splattered apron. Startled, everyone turned to look at her. With her hands on her hips, she said to Jesus, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me” (Luke 10:40, NLT).
Instead of rebuking Mary, Jesus turned to Martha and said, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42, NLT).
Mary had kept her main focus. She was not letting a nonessential take the place of an essential. Yes, of course, there is a place for putting together a great holiday meal. There is a place for going the extra mile to make your celebrations special and memorable.
But there is also a place for worship. There is a place for contemplating the awesomeness of God. In all of the noise and activity of Christmas, it’s a good thing to step away from it all — even in the midst of a busy day — to just be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10). By the way, when God says “be still and know” it wasn’t a suggestion. It was a command.
The message of Christmas isn’t the holiday or the traditions or the elaborate preparations and decorations. The message is Christ. How He stepped out of eternity into time, out of the highest heavens to our tiny planet, to be with us, to rescue us from our empty lives, and to open the door of Heaven to us.
If we lose our focus on Him — who He is and what He has done — we’ve lost the heart of it all. The great good news is that we are not alone in the stress, pressures and heartbreaks of life. God is with us.
If you have lost God, I have good news for you. He is easy to find! If you feel far from God, guess who moved? Not God. You. He is waiting for you, right where He has always been. He can be found by you right now.
I read a story in the paper about some guy who had a nativity set in front of his house. As it turns out, someone swiped his baby Jesus figure from the little wooden manger in the lawn. The man was extremely upset. He was actually quoted as saying, “I have lost my Jesus and I don’t know where they have taken Him!”
When I read that I was thinking, "Seriously? Just buy another one at Walmart or wherever you bought your nativity set.” This, of course, is not true of Jesus himself. You cannot lose Him. You can lose sight of Him, but He never loses sight of you. He is ready to enter into your life and change you. Immediately. Right now. He lived. He died. He rose. He is coming. He is standing at the door of your life and He is knocking.
To me, Christmas is a lot like throwing a birthday party for somebody and then forgetting to invite the guest of honor. Can you imagine if that were you? Let’s say it is your 40th birthday, and all your friends decide they should have a celebration. At someone’s house they put up elaborate decorations — including pictures of you blown up and hung on the walls. They even write and sing songs with your name in the lyrics. But somehow, in all the celebrations and activities, they forget to invite you.
When you do finally show up at your own birthday party unannounced and knock on the door, the people at the party are a little embarrassed. They didn’t really invite you, so now they just ignore you. That is Jesus at Christmas for many. That is Jesus at the door of many lives right now. On the outside. Excluded.
Jesus didn’t come to earth as a Baby to give us a reason to go shopping. That Baby wasn't born so we can just sing songs about Him. No, He was born with a purpose more important than we can begin to imagine. He was born to die, that we might live. He was born under the shadow of the cross. “The message of the season is not “let it snow” or “let us shop.” It is “let us worship.”
He was born as Immanuel, God with us.
If we lose that focus, we lose everything. If we keep it, if we make time to sit at His feet like Mary, we have all we will ever need.
Greg Laurie is the pastor and founder of the Harvest churches in California and Hawaii and Harvest Crusades. He is an evangelist, best-selling author and movie producer. “Jesus Revolution,” a feature film about Laurie’s life from Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company, releases in theaters February 24, 2023.
