As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed them into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “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.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it– and I won’t take it away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

Big family meals are great! Everyone loves the food and the fellowship. But family meals are also trouble. You have to buy the food, cook the food, clean up after cooking, serve the food, clean up after eating,… you’ve been there and know what I’m talking about. It gets so busy that you sometimes forget why you’re even doing it! All this work for the five minutes we get to spend with our families? Forget it!

Too bad our lives are exactly like that. There is so much going on that we can never feel like we have it all done. We never feel like we are on top of things enough, and our spiritual life suffers. When our schedule gets busy, it is our prayer time or devotional time that takes the first cut. And then we wonder why we don’t feel closer to God.

Life is busy. That we can’t do much about. But we can choose to spend time with Christ despite our busy world.

How to unplug from busy-ness: Deliberately choose to NOT do something today and instead spend that time reading the Bible.

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice– the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

Romans 12:1-2

TV advertising is downright evil, especially toy ads that run during children’s programming. (OK, perhaps evil is a bit strong, but they are deviously influential.) Take a tour of the toy aisle with children under 12 and they can tell you exactly what each and every toy does and tell you how their lives won’t be the same without them. The world already has its hooks in them. It starts early in life and never stops. Even as adults we feel the tug of the world to go against Christ. Some are simple distractions and some are blatant calls to go against God’s will. But all of them keep us from fulfilling God’s will in our lives.

Have you ever thought of how much the world distracts you from Christ? Think about it for a moment…when you make a decision is it based more on the world or on your relationship with Jesus? We get so busy playing with the world’s toys that we forget our purpose. God calls us to be in the world, but not of it. Our goal is to not let the world transform us, but for us to be transformed by Christ.

How to unplug from distraction: Before you make a purchase today, ask yourself, “Does this purchase distract me from my relationship with Christ?”

They are the ones who have tangled up all of my Christmas lights! Every year, through some unexplained phenomenon, my Christmas lights go through a metamorphosis while in my attic. I put them away nicely and neatly with all of the bulbs in working order. The next year, I unbundle a tangled mess with half the bulbs dark as night! I guess one could say it’s a holiday tradition, but it’s one tradition that I could do without.

Christmas itself is often like that tangled mess of lights. Each year it starts off hectic and jumbled with too much to do and too little time to do it. In the middle of it all we begin to lose sight of what Christmas is all about. The Christmas story, which should burn brightly in our hearts as Christians, has become broken and burned out. For some of us, it gets to the point that we lose sight of what Christmas is all about!

It’s time for us to unplug Christmas and sort it out. We need to examine how the world distracts us from the true meaning of Christmas and how we can regain a sense of holiness in our lives this holiday season. We need to restore in our hearts a genuine love for the true meaning of Christmas.

After that we can hunt down those Christmas elves who keep messing up my attic…