The List

Standing in my grandmother’s dining room on Christmas Eve, 1981 was a monumental moment in my life.  We had spent a wonderful evening of magic with Grandma, our cousins, aunts and uncles, Christmas gifts and unending resources of cookies and treats.  Our family of six was packing up our newly acquired loot when Grandmother said, you kids better get right to bed before Santa comes tonight!

I was already excited and I could feel my heart rate increase all the more at her words.  “I will Grandma!” I said, though I doubted that I would be able to calm myself down enough to sleep.

My dad had a sadistic way of spinning angst into a perfectly joyful moment. “I don’t know…Santa might not come to our house…I heard, you might be on the naughty list.”

GREAT SCOTT!  Why would he say that??  Sure I had done some bad things through the year.  Did I lie about how much wood I hauled into the house? Well…Yes.  Did I secretly slide my mashed potatoes under my plate…more than once…to “pretend,” that I had finished my supper?  Again…yes.  Did I smack the dog because he slurped up my ice cream cone when I wasn’t looking last summer?  Yep…that too.  But is that enough to put me on the naughty list?

“I am not sure your room is clean either, is it?  Santa won’t come if your room is not clean.”

Egads!  He was right!  My room was likely NOT clean.  My excitement for the arrival of the mystical Red Suited Stranger suddenly turned to fret, anxiety and uncertainty.  All I could think of now was that this man who knew both when I was sleeping and when I was awake, had committed me to the naughty list.

My grandmother in all of her grace attempted to diffuse my sick minded father, “Oh stop Ross…I am sure Ryan is on the Nice List…he’s a good boy! Aren’t you Ryan?”

“Yeah!” I nervously rebutted.

Evidence suggests, that Santa did come that night.  My room must have been warranted to be clean enough and my niceness must have somehow overcome my misdeeds.  Or…perhaps some forces other than Santa were at work.  I spent many Christmas seasons trying to appease Santa. 

Likewise, I have spent many years of my life trying to appease God. 

Does God want us to obey him? Yes!

Does God want us to “do” certain things in this life? Absolutely!

Does God want us to resist temptation and stay away from acts of evil and idolatry? Certainly!

But what does God “really” want1? You…and a relationship “with” you.

There is ONLY one way into that relationship with God and that is through His Son Jesus. 

Christmas isn’t about appeasing Santa.  Christmas isn’t appeasing God.  Christmas is about God coming because he wants to restore the relationship “with” each of us. 

When the angels appeared to the shepherds and made their incredible announcement in Luke 2 and drawing their attention back to the prophecy of Isaiah 9, God has fulfilled his promise to be WITH US!!!  

Life with God transforms us.  In fact, if God is “with” us…then our transformed lives filled with transformed love should begin to reflect His love.

May your life AFTER Christmas reflect the LIFE he has offered to us BECAUSE of Christmas.