Behind Day 12 of my Advent Calendar is:
FATHER CHRISTMAS
Today is December 12th, which by my reckoning means that we’ve now reached the halfway point of my Countdown to Christmas. I’m not sure who is most relieved – me or you – but I don’t doubt that in many households the excitement is beginning to build as Christmas draws ever nearer. But when all is said and done, Christmas is for many a huge anticlimax, a deeply unsatisfying time. I wonder why that might be.
For some of us, Christmas is just too busy – there is simply too much that has to be done. Perhaps we long for the Christmases of our childhood, fondly remembered as magical times when we believed in someone who was better and kinder than ourselves, one who insisted on bestowing upon us one kindness after another without, it seemed, us ever having to do anything to deserve it.
Now though, as adults, we have lost sight of any transcendence that Christmas once held and, rather than resting in the generosity of one greater than ourselves, find ourselves burdened with a list of a thousand things we must do if we are to be considered acceptable celebrants of what a consumerist society has now made Christmas.
Wouldn’t it be lovely then if we could experience Christmas, indeed experience life as a whole, as we did when we were little, with a childlike faith that someone other than ourselves would be kind to us in ways we don’t come close to meriting, one who would see to it that everything worked out just fine in the end.
If that sounds appealing to you, if that sounds like heaven, then be encouraged by the words of one wiser than me who once said
‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ [Matthew 18:3].
Because, you see, you can’t work your way into heaven – rather you are provided with a free pass. Why? Because Jesus, the one who said the words above, has paid the entry fee and, undeserving though we are, seen to it that everything will indeed work out just fine in the end.
We enter the kingdom of heaven by grace, not by works.
Which means to say that Father Christmas, with his insistence that we have to be good to benefit from his generosity, comes a poor second to the God who sent Jesus into the world to save sinners.
Contrary to what many people think, Christians don’t believe that they’ll go to heaven because of their good works – on the contrary, Christians know all too well how far short they fall of God’s perfect standard. Its not arrogance on their part to believe that they are assured a place in heaven, rather it is a humble confidence in the one who not only bore the punishment for their sins, but also lived the perfect life that they themselves ought to have done. As such, it is Jesus’ perfect life, credited, as it were, to their account by the God who now treats them as if they’d lived that life themselves, that gives a Christian confidence of a place in heaven.
Put simply, Christians know that Jesus was good for them – and they give God all the glory. Furthermore, Christians know that this Christmas, Jesus could be good for you too.
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So to finish, have a listen to Michael Bublé give a particularly fine rendition of ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’. And as you do, take note of the rules laid down by ‘the big fat man with the long white beard’ and ask yourself whether this undoubted festive fun really is what Christmas is all about.
Previously from ‘A Christmas Countdown’:
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 11’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 10’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 9’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 8’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Part 7’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 6’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 5’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 4’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 3’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 2’, click here
To read ‘A Christmas Countdown – Day 1’, click here
Some musings 