Remember the words of the old
Christmas song, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”?
You better watch out; you better not cry.
You better not pout; I'm
telling you why.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He's making a list; He's
checking it twice,
He's going to find out who's
naughty and nice.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
He sees you when you're sleeping.
He knows when you're awake.
He knows when you've been bad
or good,
So be good for goodness sake.
We all sang it in Elementary School and believed in it with all our hearts. We tried our best to be good for Santa so he would bring us gifts and toys instead of switches and coal.
Unfortunately, we confuse God, our Heavenly Father, with Santa. We think we will only deserve His blessings if we are good enough. We think that, like Santa, God judges us by the deeds we've done.
That way of thinking is far, far from the truth. God is not Santa. We can’t make ourselves good enough to please Him. We can’t earn our way to Heaven.
And, while God does see us, and knows even our thoughts, it is out of His love for us, a love so great that He made a way for us to receive His blessings and the gift of salvation, despite our flaws and failures. That tiny baby we see on Christmas cards, sleeping in a feeding trough, is Jesus, the Son of God, whom God sent to teach us how to live, and died on the cross as penalty for OUR sins. When we truly believe in Him and His sacrificial death in our place, God sees us as good and perfect and worthy of His gift of eternal life with Him.
Thankfully, God is no Santa Claus!
Be encouraged!
