The Gospel of Santa: Elf on the Shelf Morality

It’s that time of year again. Time to trim the tree, hang the stockings, risk your life on the roof of your house trying to secure an inflatable snowman. It’s Christmas time. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a bit of a Christmas honk. I start listening to Christmas music somewhere around mid-October. I consider myself a huge failure if I don’t have my tree up before Thanksgiving. Ever since I can remember, Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I have great memories of Christmas day. Going to my grandparents house on Christmas eve and watching the weather report to see if they had spotted Santa. Waking up Christmas morning to find all the presents under the beautifully lit tree just waiting to be freed from their wrapping paper prisons. For me, it really is the most wonderful time of the year.

Now that I’m a parent, I want to pass those great Christmas memories on to my kids. I want them to love Christmas like I do. I want them to like Christmas music. I want them to crack up laughing at Clark Griswold punching a plastic Santa Clause in the face like I do. I want them to like going to the mall and seeing all the christmas decorations. So, how do I accomplish this? This is a question that all American parents have to ask themselves (especially Christian parents). How do we approach this season with our kids? How do we handle the Santa thing? Does telling our kids that Santa is real mean that we are lying to our kids? (The answer is yes. How is that even a question?) What about Elf on the shelf? Say we don’t tell our kids that Santa is real, what if they ruin it for the other kids? Will our kids still have as much fun with Christmas if we don’t do the whole “Santa thing”?

These are all questions my wife and I have discussed, and I know we are not alone. On the surface, all of these questions seem innocent enough. We might think that they are good questions to ask, but whatever you decide to do really doesn’t matter in the long run. Just a matter of personal preference. I would like to, if you will, push on this idea a bit because I believe that there are bigger things at stake hear than just Santa and Elf on the Shelf.

Do I think that Santa and Elf on the Shelf are inherently evil? No. In fact, I believe that it’s great to include fun, fictional characters into our holiday celebrations. But I also believe that they must be viewed as just that, “fun and fictional”.

One thing I have learned in my short time as a parent, is that everything we do as parents communicates something to our children about who God is. The Biblical unpacking of God as our “Heavenly Father” is not by accident. God uses the family unit as a one of the main vehicles by which we see His Gospel of Grace in our lives. Anyone who has been a parent for any amount of time knows that parenting puts us in situations that expose our sinfulness and need of a Savior like very few other things can. And how we respond in those moments (namely, whether we turn to Christ and his sufficient grace or we turn to ourselves and our attempts at bankrupt self-righteousness) speaks volumes to our children. The reality is, our children’s view of God, Christ, and the Gospel will largely be shaped by us, their parents.

This calls into question the idea that there is a magical, invisible person who sees the actions of everyone, everywhere and based on the goodness or badness of ones actions gives out good gifts to those who have earned them.

Kind of sounds like how most of us view God, huh? I wonder where we got that idea from?

See, the message of Santa and the message of the Gospel couldn’t be any more opposite. Santa sees everything you do and rewards or punishes you accordingly. God sees everything we do and instead of rewarding or punishing us based on our actions, he bases his system on the perfect actions of  Jesus Christ. And for those in Christ, He says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9)”

It’s crazy to think that such competing ideas can occupy the same bandwidth. But that is precisely what happens this time of year.

Messages of God sending His Son to the earth to rescue us from our sinful actions get intertwined with messages of someone making lists and checking them twice to find out if we are naughty or nice.

The two cannot peaceably coexist.

Why would we want them to?

So, have fun this Christmas. Put up your tree. Decorate your house with lights. Listen to Mariah Carey’s Christmas album. Throw ugly Christmas sweater parties (and invite me to them). Buy gifts, lots of them if you can afford it. Spend time with family, even the crazy side. Get your kids picture with Santa (even if he “sits on a throne of lies”).

Let’s just remember to do it all with the understanding that there is something bigger going on. Something bigger than naughty and nice lists or the “snitch” on the shelf. Let’s do it all with the joy and freedom of knowing that Christ came to free us from the bondage of being “good enough” .

That, to me, sounds like a reason to celebrate.

Heart Attack

Who do you think you are fooling?

Because it is certainly not God.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. (Gal 6:7 ESV)

God is not mocked. God is not fooled.

And no, I’m not talking about the other party. I’m talking about you. I’m not talking about Obama, or Romney, or the Republicans, or the “libtards” (yes, I actually saw that word used several times by people of “faith”). I’m talking about you. The one who for the past few months seems to think that God can’t see your Facebook wall.

But this isn’t a post about, “God sees what you do on Facebook, so you better post more Bible verses.” This is a post about something much more serious.

Your heart. 

The thing that caused you to post what you did on Facebook. The thing that caused you to go to bed feeling either angry and scared or hopeful and happy last night. The thing that caused you to wake up this morning with that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach or the joy of victory. The thing that God cares infinitely more about than your stupid Facebook wall.

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks [or, the fingers type]. (Matt. 12:34 ESV)

This is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees. The religious people of his day. The ones who tried to paint a picture of themselves as moral, upright, and close to God. But Jesus knew better. He knew their hearts. He knew that they were putting their trust in the wrong things to try to make themselves moral, upright, and close to God. They trusted in themselves, they trusted in the “system”. And Jesus wasn’t having any of it. He was ruthlessly and ferociously coming after their hearts.

And the good news is. Jesus is still in the business of ruthlessly and ferociously pursuing our hearts.

You see, the Pharisees knew about God. They even knew about the Messiah. They just thought the Messiah was coming to change their political system. You know, stack the deck a little in favor of the church people. He didn’t. He came to change their hearts. In fact, after Jesus showed up, it was the political system that had him murdered. God then turned the political system against the church in order for them to realize that He was serious about changing hearts.

So does this mean that I am saying God doesn’t care about politics and government? Absolutely not. After all, they were both His idea. The Scriptures are clear that God has his hand in all realms of our lives, including the government. But the repetitive theme throughout the Bible is not one of political reform. The meta-narrative of Scripture tells of a God who constantly and consistently pours out His grace on people who don’t deserve it. People who look to the created (government, politics, money, sex, etc) for meaning and purpose, rather than the CREATOR.

God, in His grace and for His glory alone, is not OK with that. He doesn’t settle for us drinking toilet water to quench our thirst. And He is willing to do whatever he deems necessary to turn our hearts back to Him.

So let’s stop trying to deceive ourselves. We might fool those around us, but God is not fooled. He will not be mocked by our attempts to replace Him with the things He created.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked….

Off we go…..

Ok, so I know that starting a blog is so 2000 and late, but I am excited to share with you all some of the things God has been teaching me and hopefully you can share some things with me as well. I intend on posting on a whole slew of topics, but, if you know me at all, we both know that will largely consist of things about Jesus, my family, and sports. So, my hope is that what I say will encourage you, challenge you, and make you giggle from time to time. And with that being said, off we go…..