I believe in Santa!

Luke 1:45-47 (New International Version, ©2010)

⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
 ⁴⁶ And Mary said:“My soul glorifies the Lord ⁴⁷ and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

Do you believe in Santa Claus? If you don't believe, you miss all the rewards of believing. If you don't believe, how can you enjoy the season and the wonderment of christmas time. You can't enjoy presents, you can't enjoy the decorations, or the stockings, or the magic of Christmas. If you don't believe in Santa how can you enjoy the excitement of a child who does. I love the Christmas season. Belief in Santa is central to that love. Santa is the "poster child" for giving and faith and hope. You can't be blessed without believing. 

There are some times in our Christian lives that we just have to believe and if we do believe, we will be blessed. Mary and Elizabeth were both more than a little astonished by the circumstances they were in. Elizabeth had tried and tried to get pregnant and now she was carrying a messenger of God, even in her advanced years. Mary was carrying a Baby, who would be the Son of God, and she was a virgin. All of this was amazing. God didn't ask them to do any special works. They didn't have to demonstrate their faith through works. All they had to do was believe and then leave everything up to God.

I don't want to discount works or active faith. But, their are times when all God asks of us is to believe in him. I think this is true more often that not. God does not NEED us to DO anything. Faith is enough to get us blessings from God. Obviously, he loves our good works for his kingdom, but he doesn't need them. He also doesn't even ask for them, all the time. 

When we come to know our Savior all we have to start with is belief. We just need to confess that God is in control and trust him to take us where we need to go. That is really all we NEED to do. God can do the rest. Our works are a bonus.  This is such a relief that we don't need to feel pressured to PERFORM for God. He just wants us. When we free ourselves of those demands, then we can truly be open to being used by God.  Being free of the demands of works, frees us to do more works. Sounds like double talk but it is true. Just Believe. Just Believe. Just Believe.

Santa Claus doesn't always bring what you want!

Luke 1 (New International Version, ©2010)

⁵ In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.


We have an amazing Christmas tradition in the United States. Kids are taken to the mall or some local store, or town square, or many other countless locations at Christmas time. The sole purpose is to talk to a guy in a full white beard, with a bit of a gut, and ask him for a special gift on Christmas morning. This is quite a risky venture for parents, to say the least. What if they ask for some absolutely extravagant gift that "Santa" can't afford or maybe even have access too? Being a parent at one time in my life, I knew how important it was to "coach" your kids in what they should ask for. But, there was always a little tension when they were sitting on the "Big Guys lap".  Kids ask for the darnedest things! 


As Christians we also ask for the "Darnedest" things. We rap our extravagant requests in all sorts of righteousness and just hope that God will come through, just like Santa Claus. Well, this is not the case in this Biblical story. Zechariah and Elizabeth were "righteous in the sight of God", Zechariah was a Priest, they were faithful to God's commands, and yet God had consistently told them NO! Elizabeth wasn't asking to win the lottery. Zechariah wasn't wanting to double the profits in his small business. They weren't praying to win the Super Bowl! They were asking for a Child!  This petition of God had gone on for years with the simple answer of no. There was no explanation, no sign that they just had to wait, just the simple answer, no.


The Christmas tradition we have here in the US does a disservice to God. More often than not, Santa Claus brings us what we want.  I can't ever remember being disappointed on Christmas morning. Santa always said yes. So, if God is so much bigger and better than Santa Claus, shouldn't he say Yes, all the time, too? But God does say no and most of the time, we don't know why. We just have to take it on faith and keep trusting him .  This is so easy to say and tougher to follow through with. I wonder if I would be satisfied even to know why. Or would I just try to change Gods mind to follow my plan? With Zechariah and Elizabeth they didn't know the end of the story. They didn't know the time was not right and when the time was right, their son would help usher in the King of Kings. They didn't know why but they continued to be faithful anyways. They were rewarded in a Grand way. They got their Christmas present and so much more because they let God be God and they remained faithful followers. That's a lesson we could all learn.


Dear Lord, Thank you for your marvelous plan. Thank You for saying No when No is the right answer. Thank you for loving us so much that you sent your Son to die for our sins. That was the greatest gift we could ever ask for. Amen!