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.