How to Keep Christ in ChristmasНамуна

One Christmas Eve when our oldest daughter was young, we were setting out cookies for Santa. As we were setting the cookies down on the table near the fireplace, one of the cookies fell. She noticed that I picked it up, blew on it a little bit, and put it back on the plate. She was horrified! I said, “Honey, Santa won’t know.” 

She looked at me and replied, “So he knows when we are good and bad, but he doesn’t know when a cookie falls off the plate?” 

From that time forward, there was a seed of doubt in her mind. The next thing, I knew we had a “rebel without a clause”. On the other hand, my other daughter was always afraid of Santa Claus. We realized early on that she was “clause-strophobic”.

This topic brings me to a more spiritual point. How often do those around us whole-heartedly proclaim their made-up characters and traditions like Santa while we as believers keep silent about Christ? Even worse, sometimes we lose faith in His love for us because we have allowed a little morsel of doubt to reside in our hearts. 

Perhaps this Holiday season is not joyful for you. Maybe you are enduring a battle with your health or are sorrowful over a broken family relationship. If you have doubt about God’s love for you, cast it out. Celebrate Christ’s birth. Born as a humble baby to later bear the grueling weight of the cross and our sin, the love He displayed for you and me is matchless. Rejoice in His love. Rejoice in the faithfulness of your everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. Immanuel is with you.