Making the Right Choice

“Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word.  But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, does Thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me”.  Luke 10:38-39

Now that we are approaching Christmas, I am reminded of this passage in Luke, wherein Jesus had gone to the house of His friends, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, to eat a meal and fellowship.  Even though Jesus was God in the flesh, He still had close friends who believed in Him and enjoyed His visits to their home.  Jesus loves everyone, but He had special people whom He counted as, I suppose one could say, best friends while He was on earth, and Martha, Mary, and Lazarus were three of them.

On this particular day, Jesus had gone to share a meal with His three friends.  Martha, the sister who was always desiring to serve others, wanted this particular meal to be extra special.  That is completely understandable.  Most women who invite folks over to eat want the house to be cleaned, the food to be really good, and for everyone to enjoy themselves.  That’s what a good hostess does.  Martha, in her effort to make everything as perfect as she could, became upset because Mary, her sister, wasn’t helping her.  You see, Mary was not as concerned about dinner as she was about hearing what Jesus had to say.  She probably would have rather ate a sandwich.  I think Jesus probably would have also been happy with a sandwich.  When Martha approached Jesus to get Mary to help her, Jesus didn’t rebuke Martha.  I think He appreciated her efforts at making Him welcome and comfortable, but He wanted her to know that the meal was not the most important thing that day, but rather spending time with Him as He expounded upon God’s truth.  A meal only satisfies for a few hours, but the word of God satisfies and enriches forever.

This brings us to the Christmas season which seems to begin earlier and earlier every year mostly because the retailers are striving to earn as much money as they can.  For most retailers, Christmas is their busiest time of year.  Of course, they don’t control when and how we spend our gift dollars.  What I have noticed about this season is that there are so many folks, particularly women, who are a lot like Martha.  They get so stressed out about all the things that have to do to get ready for this one day a year.  They desire to provide a happy and joyous experience for their families, but sometimes their efforts give them anxiety as they plan and proceed to get everything done by the deadline.  I think many of them go overboard in attempting to make every year the best Christmas ever for their loved ones.  What fun is it if one is so tired and worn out from all the work in preparing for this joyous holiday season that they can’t enjoy it?

The thing that bothers me most about this time of year is that Christ is lost in it all.  After all, it is His birthday.  It is true that many people keep Christ in Christmas, but I am afraid that those of us who do are in the minority.  It’s all about Jingle Bells, snowmen, elves, Santa Claus, gifts, gifts, and more gifts, and maybe, just maybe, there is a tiny little corner where the Nativity scene is displayed, but, for most families, it is not the center focus of the season.  I see nothing wrong with Santa.  Some believers don’t allow their children to believe in Santa when they are little because the parents fear that the child will ignore Jesus for Santa.  In all my years, I have never known a child to confuse Jesus and Santa if they have been taught scripture, taken to church, and have heard the gospel.  It is all about keeping things in perspective.

When I was growing up, my family kept our Christmas rather low-key, that is, we didn’t get stressed out about every little detail, but rather enjoyed the time of year when we could reflect back on previous years and see how good that God had been to us.  I am the kind of person who likes to keep things simple.  The house doesn’t have to be filled from ceiling to floor with decorations, the food doesn’t have to be gourmet, and the gifts don’t have to be expensive.  I remember my Dad telling me that when he was a boy (he was a young teenager during the Great Depression of the 1930’s) that for Christmas, he and his siblings received a banana and an orange each, and they were happy to get that.  I was telling a lady who works as a cashier at Goodwill about that, and she said if someone gave another person a banana and an orange for Christmas, the receiver would probably throw them in the giver’s face.  My, have times changed.

The bottom line is to simplify your holiday and make Jesus the focus of your celebration.  You will be less anxious, have more joy, and have a relaxed and Merry Christmas.