Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.  ~James 1:16-18

     If you have spent a decent amount of time on this website you have probably come to recognize that I’m a firm believer that all things, or at least the majority of things, are reconciled in Christ. I don’t care to see one piece of the puzzle tossed out, especially when in favor of another. I do recognize that in particular circumstances that may be what is called for, but overall I see all things created through and for Jesus and therefore reconciled in Him (Colossians 1). 

     So what do we do with Santa Clause, or the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and other similar myths? Can they also be reconciled or are they to be tossed?

     Looking to reconcile all things in Jesus starts by stripping the subject in question from the impurities of lies. The problem with Santa Clause and other similar myths is that he is based on a lie. Sure, we know that this mythological character is based on the life of Saint Nick who gave many presents to the poor, but it’s the Spirit of Jesus Christ that needs to be alive in our hearts, not the spirit of a mythical character. Jesus is the reason for the season and our children need to be aware of that. As Christians why would we want to tell and perpetuate a lie? Why would we want to take away from the gift of Jesus Christ?

     There are also concerns that sharing this lie would harbor doubts about the existence of God in our children. Some disagree saying that when they came to realize the truth that Santa wasn’t real it did not lead to a doubt in God. I’ve heard more than once unbelievers use a reference to Santa Clause as a myth to try and make a case for a belief in God being unfounded. This tells me that although this myth may not cast doubts about God on all, it does effect some.  I know God can and does reveal Himself to others and is big enough to handle the lies associated with this fable.  I and many others know there is a God because we have a personal relationship with Him. He has revealed Himself to us as a real being that also lives inside our spirits. If we have doubts about God it is because we lack revelation and our doubts can reveal the fact that our beliefs in God can be similar to our beliefs in Santa Clause as children; second-hand knowledge from others that lacks a personal relationship with Him.  Yet again, as Christians why would we tell and perpetuate a lie, especially about something as important as this holiday season that should center around our Lord Jesus Christ and his Spirit of giving?  We are not called to perpetuate lies but to share the truth found in Christ.

     Furthermore, there are distinct differences between Jesus Christ and this mythological character which may seem harmless to some, yet they can and do at times have a profound effect on how we may relate to Jesus in our childhood that can carry on to our adult life.  The main problem I see with the character traits of Santa Clause are that his gifts come with a clause. Santa gives good gifts based on good behavior, and gives worthless gifts to children based on bad behavior. By contrast the gift of Jesus and the blessed gifts that come with Him are not based on our personal behavior or ability to be good for we have all fallen short of the glory of God and can in way attain real goodness found in the Heart of God in Christ. This does not mean God does not discipline his children for their own good, but there are distinct differences between punishment and discipline. Furthermore, the natural law of reaping what we sow still exists. If we sow unto the flesh we will reap unto the flesh, but if we sow unto the things of the Spirit we will reap the fruits of the Spirit. In matters of sowing and reaping we bring these things upon ourselves and this can be a way God brings discipline in our lives yet He Himself has given us the gift of his Holy Spirit through the gift of Jesus so He can give us all good things. We enter into those gifts by grace through faith in our Lord.

     This Christmas season let’s rid ourselves of the myth of Santa Clause and put Jesus back at the core of it where He belongs. Let’s teach our children how precious this gift really is and all the blessed gifts that come with Him. For personal accountability help them to understand how sowing and reaping work, while accenting that all good gifts come from the Giver of Life.

      Acts 17:16-31

     While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.  So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.  A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.  Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?  You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

    Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. 

    “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.  God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.  ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

     “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.  In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”