With ten days left before Christmas Day, shopping has really amped up. People are either hustling and bustling to the nearest brick and mortar store or are busy buying online. But when we think of Christmas, we usually think of Santa. Santa is even busier than us! He has to load up the sled, shout commands to his elves, and make sure his reindeer are ready for the long journey ahead.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Just think of all of the malls Santa has to visit before Christmas and all of the gift requests he has to take up from children. You remember the days, don’t you? The days of waiting in line just so you could climb up in Santa’s lap and tell him what you wanted for Christmas.
Think about this: Ever since you have been a small boy or girl, your society has conditioned you to believe that life revolves around you. The world tells you to seek pleasure and to be fulfilled. What does Santa Clause ask you when you climb up his chair and sit on his lap? Santa asks you, “What would you like to have?”
We live in a country that is becoming more secular by the minute. However, the statistics that show a significant rise in secularism do not show a significant rise in atheism. The group that is growing in the United States is not atheists, but rather the “nones” (those who are religiously unaffiliated). This group may believe in God, but the shape of their belief can vary significantly, even with one another.
Over the course of time, however, a rise in the nones may equate with a rise in atheism. Many countries in Eastern Europe would just as well equate Jesus Christ with Santa Clause, an Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy. They would claim Jesus is nothing less than a fictional character and certainly no one we should bank our lives on.
If it wasn’t for the resurrection, I would agree with my Eastern European counterparts. Scripture itself says if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is our faith…And if Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile…If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men (I Cor 15:14, 17, 19). I couldn’t have said it better myself. I mean, why live for Christ if he was not real and did not die on a cross and rise from the dead thus doing what he said he was going to do (John 2:19).
Jesus is not a genie in a bottle that grants you every wish. He is not a divine butler or a cosmic therapist. Being a God that is all-knowing, Jesus knows what you would like to have before you do. Jesus told his disciples to let the children come to him (Matt 19:14). Being from a good Father, Jesus knew all about the love a daddy has for his children. Jesus would have understood why a child climbs up in a father’s lap and why a father grants his children good gifts (Matt 7:11).
But encountering Jesus is nothing like encountering Santa Clause. That’s because Jesus isn’t sitting on a chair. He is sitting on a throne (Heb 8:2). Though Jesus gave up his life for us on earth, his ultimate aim was to please His Father and bring him glory. Because of this sacrificial type of obedience, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9-11).
Jesus is creator, sustainer, and redeemer! He sits on his throne as the King of kings and Lord of lords. When you approach an earthly king, you come in humility and reverence. A king doesn’t ask you, “what would you like to have?” A king asks, “what do you have to give?”
What will you give King Jesus this Christmas season? He is due nothing less than anything and everything you have.