The Christmas season is upon us and I have a confession to make. As Santa
Claus uses my hard earned money to maintain his historical name I have been
using his name in vain to maintain my kids bed time habits, food habits,
running through the house like a maniac habit. Are you being naughty or nice is
all I have to ask and they submit! Life is good. But the gospel of Jesus Christ
always turns my life upside down! Recently I have been convicted by the gospel.
As you know the gospel of Jesus Christ is radically countercultural. Therefore it is also
very counter- Santa culture. While, according
to the Santa culture, naughty boys and girls need to straighten up and be nice in order to
receive gifts from Santa, the gospel tells us a different story. John 3:16 says,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.." The world in
the gospel of John is described as a realm opposed to God. In John 15:18 Jesus talks about the world hating him. Yet John 3:16 talks about God loving the world and giving it the gift of his Son. Paul says something
similar in Romans 2:8, "God proved his love for us in that while we were
sinners Christ died for us." Again Paul says in Romans 2:10,
"....while we were God's enemies we were reconciled to God through the
death of his Son." What the Bible
is saying is that while we were still awful and naughty God gave us the
greatest gift, his Son to save us. That is the
good news of Christmas that the naughty
and nice list of Santa always fails to embody. There goes my leverage!
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