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Thursday, November 18, 2004
Some of my fondest childhood memories involve Santa Claus. It was all-out, too. There were sightings on the weather radar before bedtime. Leaving cookies & milk out (with celery for the reindeer, of course). Hoofprints on my roof. Making a Christmas list when the Sears catalog came out and mailing it directly to the North Pole. Seeing his helpers in the mall and telling them about what I'd mailed. The whole deal.
One of the realities of good old St. Nick is that he is making a list. He checks it twice. He finds out who is naughty and who is nice. That's the reality. He will find out. There is a system of reward and punishment, too. He brings toys to the good little boys and girls. Ashes and switches, or maybe a lump of coal, are the result for those that have been found lacking in the behavior department.
Santa seems to have a very lax system of measure, though. I've never known anyone who got ashes and switches, or a lump of coal, from Santa for Christmas. And I've known some bad kids, too. There were years when, truth be told, I probably should've been in the mix for the ashes and switches. Seems that every kid in my neighborhood withstood the scrutiny.
Psalm 130 tells us that wouldn't be the case with God, though, in verses 3 & 4: "If Thou, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, That Thou mayest be feared."
If it were God making the naughty and nice list for Christmas gift distribution, Santa and the elves could take the year off. The life off, for that matter. If God were keeping score of naughty and/or nice, we'd all come up short in the tally. No one could stand.
Very depressing news, for sure. No one stands. We're undeserving. Unholy. Unrighteous. Un-everything. We can't stand before a deserving, holy and righteous God. He is everything we're not. Ashes and switches and coal all around.
Wait a minute, though. There's hope.
There is forgiveness with God. His own naughty/nice list becomes a moot point. A holy God chooses to erase the board for an unholy people. Abundance for those in a relationship with Him.
And why is there forgiveness? That the Lord may be trusted. That the Lord will "feared." Not a shaking, trembling, scared kind of way, but that He will be understood for Who He Is and given reverence. That He is your King, and you can trust Him to do what's best for you.
Think about it. You can trust Him because He doesn't simply reduce us to ashes and switches and lumps of coal. He doesn't give us what we deserve, but rather lavishes us with abundance we DON'T deserve. That our behavior doesn't play into whether or not God loves us. We know how bad we are.
We can trust Him, fully and completely, to bring the gifts anyway.
And that reality gives us hope when times are tough. We don't have to depend on our goofy and inconsistent selves to bail us out, but rather a God who loves us enough to wipe the slate clean and bless us anyway. If He loves us enough to forgive us...
Brent 5:00 AM
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