Slowing Your Heart on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve can be packed with noise, notifications, and hurry. In this episode, learn simple ways to put your phone aside, linger in Luke 2, and let your heart truly receive Jesus.
Christmas Eve can be packed with noise, notifications, and hurry. In this episode, learn simple ways to put your phone aside, linger in Luke 2, and let your heart truly receive Jesus.
Have you ever reached Christmas Eve feeling busy and connected to everything on your phone, but not really present with Jesus or the people in your living room?
Between last‑minute tasks, group texts, photos to capture, and constant notifications, it’s easy to spend the evening reacting instead of worshiping. You end the night tired and distracted, realizing you rushed through a night that was meant to help you slow down and remember “God with us.”
In this episode, you’ll hear how Andy Crouch’s family chose to become “tech‑wise,” especially on nights that matter, like Christmas Eve, by powering down devices, reading Luke 2, praying, and simply being together. You’ll see how small, intentional choices, like putting the phone out of reach and giving Jesus a few unhurried minutes, can help you step off the treadmill of hurry so your heart can truly receive Christ this Christmas.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL LEARN:
- Why hurry and constant screens quietly dull your awareness of God’s presence, especially on holy nights like Christmas Eve
- How following Mary’s example in Luke 2 helps you “keep these things in your heart” instead of just rushing past them
- Simple, “tech‑wise” practices you can use tonight to slow your heart, be present with loved ones, and make real room for Jesus
- Slow your pace this Christmas Eve so you don’t just remember that Jesus came—you actually receive Him.
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A dad looks around his living room on Christmas Eve and
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realizes everyone is home, but no one's actually there. The TV
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is on in the background, phones are glowing in hands and laps,
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and even in the middle of carols and twinkle lights, his family
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is half inside their screens. Author Andy Crouch began to
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notice moments like that in his own home, on ordinary nights and
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on holy days like Christmas, when constant technology quietly
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pulled their hearts away from being truly present with God and
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with each other. In a season that's supposed to be about
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Emmanuel, God with us, why would a family choose to turn things
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off when everything around them says, capture it, post it, and
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stay connected?
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Welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger, and
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on this Christmas Eve, we're talking about something that all
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of us feel, especially today, hurry. Not just a busy schedule,
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but a hurried heart. And you know what it feels like.
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Last-minute gifts, food in the oven, people arriving, group
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text dinging, there are photos to take, and, for many people,
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services to attend. On the outside, it looks beautiful.
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There are lights, Christmas music, and family. But on the
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inside, you can feel scattered and out of sorts. It's easy to
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reach the end of Christmas Eve, realizing you've been reacting
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all day and hardly made room to just be with Jesus. Listen to
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Luke 2, 15-19. When the angels returned to heaven, the
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shepherds said to each other, Let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see
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this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.
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They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there
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was the baby, lying in a manger. After seeing him, the shepherds
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told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to
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them about this child. All who heard the shepherds' story were
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astonished. But Mary kept all these things in her heart and
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thought about them often. I love that scene. The shepherds, hurry
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to Jesus. But that's a good kind of hurry. They can't wait to see
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what God has done. They worship, and then they tell others.
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There's excitement. They're moving, and there's joy. But
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then, the camera shifts to Mary. While everyone else is
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astonished and talking and maybe buzzing with the news, Mary kept
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all these things in her heart and thought about them often.
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She makes space to ponder, to let the reality of Jesus sink in.
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And that's the tension of Christmas Eve, isn't it? There
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are so many things to do. And like the shepherds, there's
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movement and celebration, and there's people all around. But
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somewhere in all of it, God invites us to do what Mary did,
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to keep these things in our hearts, to slow down long enough
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to actually think about what's happening, that God has come
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near, and that Jesus really is Emmanuel, God with us. The truth
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is, hurry doesn't just make you tired, it can make you
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spiritually dull. Our phones, especially on days like this,
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can quietly keep us in reaction mode. There are alerts, and
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there are photos, and messages, and, oh, I'll just check one
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more time. And then they pull our attention a little bit away
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from the room we're in, and from the people we love. And yes,
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even from the Savior whose birth we're celebrating. Most of us
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start the day, and the evening, reacting. Reacting to
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notifications and messages, and it can get to be just noise.
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It's easy to have a full house and a full schedule, but an
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empty soul. Christmas Eve can slip by that way if we're not
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careful. But little practices can reorient an entire life.
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What happens when, just for a few minutes, you step off the
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treadmill, when the first few quiet moments of Christmas Eve
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belong to Jesus and not your timeline? of letting hurry and
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screens run their holidays, Andy's family chose to become
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tech-wise, not anti-phone, but pro-presence.
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Little practices like that, he says. Let's help us start to
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retrain our attention toward Christ and help us actually show
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up for the people in front of us. When you set the phone aside and
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give even a few unhurried minutes to Scripture and quiet
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prayer on Christmas Eve, you're stepping off the treadmill of
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hurry so your heart can really receive Jesus, not just rush
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past Him. You don't have to overhaul your whole Christmas to
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do this. It can be very small and very simple. Maybe tonight,
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you put everyone's phones on the shelf for just 15 minutes. You
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gather whoever's willing, maybe it's the whole family, and you
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read Luke 2 out loud. You thank God in plain language for
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sending Jesus. Then, you sit in a little bit of quiet and let
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the reality of God with us wash over you. It's not about
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creating a perfect Hallmark moment. It's not about getting
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everyone to feel something dramatic. It's simply about
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giving Jesus a few undivided minutes in a night that can
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easily fill up with everything else. Here's today's Christmas
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Eve challenge. Sometime this evening before bed, Choose one
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small window of time, 10 or 15 minutes, where the phone is out
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of reach and the TV is off and your attention is not divided.
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read Luke 2, 1-20, or just verses 15-19. Then, in your own
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words, say, Lord Jesus, thank you for coming. Help my heart
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slow down enough to really receive you tonight. And if
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you're with family or friends, invite them in. If you're alone
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this Christmas, know that you're not truly alone. Emmanuel is
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with you. Either way, those few unhurried minutes can become
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your way of saying,
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Lord Jesus, on this Christmas Eve, our lives and our hearts
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can get so hurried. Would you help us slow down? Give us the
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courage to set our phones aside and to quiet the noise. And help
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us to make some real space for you. As we read your word and
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whisper our prayers, let our hearts truly receive you again
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as Emmanuel, God with us. In Jesus' name, amen. If this
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Christmas Eve episode encouraged you, would you share it with
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someone you care about? Just copy the link in the show notes
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and send it their way. You never know how much they might need a
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quiet reminder to slow their heart tonight. Thanks for
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joining me today on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives.
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Remember, you don't have to stay on the treadmill of hurry this
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Christmas Eve. Put the phone down, open the scripture, and
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let your heart rest in Jesus. Come back next time for more
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encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth. Until
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then, God bless and have a Merry Christmas.
