How God is better than Santa

The countdown is on, less than a month to go until Christmas. Christmas Carols are being sung, trees and decorations are going up, people are shopping for presents and that large jolly man in a red suit is visiting shopping centres and meeting children in the lead up to the big night when he will come around to deliver toys to all of the good boys and girls. As the song goes, “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.” The song also tells us that Santa is“Making a list and checking it twice, he’s going to find out who’s naughty and nice. Santa Claus is coming to town.”

I wonder; how often do we confuse God with Santa Claus??

I mean, there are some aspects of God that sort of overlap with our understanding of Santa. For instance, we know that God knows our every move. In Psalm 139 David tells us of God: O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. While Santa may know when we are sleeping or awake, God knows far, far more about us, probably even more than we think we know about ourselves.

And while Santa may know when our behaviour has been good or bad, the psalm tells us that God even knows our thoughts, both the good ones, and the bad ones.

And like Santa God has a list. The bible tells us that the Book of Life contains the names of all of those who believe in and follow Jesus. Revelation tells us of those who choose to follow Jesus: “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” God knows us, he knows all about us, he even records our names in the book of life when we chose to follow Jesus, but unlike Santa, God keeps no record of our wrongs. Unlike Santa’s workshop at the North Pole, there is no naughty list in heaven. When writing 1 Corinthians Paul spoke of the unconditional nature of love, and how true love keeps no record of wrongs. In Isaiah God tells us of Himself; "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”

And so while Santa may be able to tell us what we have done wrong and why we are on the naughty list, God neither keeps a naughty list nor does he remember what we might have done to qualify us for the naughty list.

On December 24th each year billions of children go to bed and lie awake for hours in anticipation of the arrival of the large jolly man in the red suit, Santa, who brings with him a red sack transported by 9 reindeer, one of which has an extraordinarily shiny nose. This red sack hopefully contains the toys that were on a list that was sent to Santa many weeks, even months before. The receipt of these presents is conditional on the quality and quantity of good things you have done over the past 12 months outweighing the quantity and lack of quality of the bad things you have done in the same 12 months. Lucky for us God is far more gracious.

The gifts we receive from God have very little to do with the quality or quantity of our good or bad deeds. In fact, irrespective of whether we even choose to acknowledge God’s existence he gives us gifts. Each and everyone of us have received the gift of life, we have the sun, and moon and the stars to look at, we receive the gift of the warmth of the sun and the refreshing of the rain, even if that one seems to be doled out a little unevenly at times. And before any of us were born God delivered His ultimate gift to a couple of young teenagers in a stable in a backwater of the Roman Empire and trusted them to nurture and care for it until it was ready to be shared with the entire world. Indeed, each Christmas we remember the arrival of the gift that is Jesus, the baby who grew into the man who would die in order for us to be restored into a right relationship with God. We received this gift long before we were even capable of distinguishing right from wrong, with God’s full knowledge that some of us will choose wrong. When we choose to follow Jesus we receive the gift of eternal life, a life spent in relationship with God. This gift surpasses anything that might be stuffed into a stocking hung by any chimney in the world with care.

So yes, God and Santa are similar. Not everyone believes in them, they both have lists, they both give presents and they both know what we are up to, but God surpasses Santa in every way. So this year, as you put up you tree, as you visit the large jolly man in the red suit and as you search for the perfect gifts to give your loved ones, may you remember that God loves you, that He has some amazing gifts to give you and that His love is not conditional on your goodness, but on His.