Beyond BeliefSample

Santa Claus has a pretty easy system worked out. If you're a nice kid, he takes good care of you and you get a present. If you're naughty, he doesn't take care of you and you get a lump of coal. The rules are pretty simple. Nice = presents. Naughty = coal. Just don't make Santa unhappy, and you can expect to have a good Christmas.

For some reason, that's how a lot of us think God treats us, too. We think that if we have a lot of faith, then God will take care of us . . . But if we're naughty and don't have a lot of faith in God, then God forgets all about us.

When we start thinking this way, all of our faith is based on fear. We're afraid of making God mad or sad, so we try really hard to have a lot of faith so we can stay on God's good side.

But this just isn't how the Bible talks about God. Jesus told his disciples that God takes care of those who make wise choices, and those who don't —causing the sun to rise and the rain to fall everyone, no matter how much faith they have.

God's care for you is absolute and invincible. There's nothing you can do to change it. So while Santa's "nice presents for the nice kids, coal for the naughty kids" method might be simple, God's is even simpler . . . In God's community, everyone is loved and taken care of, no matter what.