Santa

I want to preface this post by saying what you read is from my heart. We never want to lie to our children. We never want them to question God or if He is real. This post is not meant to judge anyone, or hurt anyone, it's simply what God woke me up at 5am to say......

" See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ." Colossians 2:8

Santa...Wow! I had no idea he could be so controversial, that one fluffy magical character could cause so much strife, hurt, and tears.

I believed in santa.

Ryan believed in santa.

But when we had children we wanted to raise them as God loving, God fearing, God centered little humans. That's why we're here.... isn't it?

"For God so loved the world that He gave is only Son so that whoever believed in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

When Ryan and I came upon the first Christmas with #1 we talked about not "doing" santa. Like I said, I was taught to believe in santa. My grandpa dressed up every year as santa and we all sat on his lap and got a present as he hugged us and loved on us. My dad would secretly stand outside and ring bells as he told us that Santa's sleigh was coming. My cousins and I loved it. Pop had a great santa suit! But then one Christmas I started putting it all together and asking questions. Why did my dad have bells in his hand as he quietly went out the door? Why did Pop have my dad's gloves on? Why did this Santa suddenly resemble my grandpa so much? That was it, my grandpa was dressing  up as Santa! But why? Why would my mom and dad lie to me? Why would my grandparents lie? Why would my grandpa go to such lengths to dress up every year and pretend to be someone he's not? I was so hurt. Crushed. I couldn't believe that my whole family would lie to me. I was angry. And in that moment I wanted nothing to do with santa or my family.

Now fast forward to the present. We have two amazing little boys. Two boys that we never ever want to lie to. Two boys that we are raising to be Godly men. Two boys that we pray over constantly. Two boys we want to know the truth, The Gospel, the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas.

" But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.37 For no word from God will ever fail.” Luke 1:30-37

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almightywill accomplish this."

Isaiah 9:6-7

God came as man to save the world. He put on flesh and endured excruciating pain, suffering, hurt, deceit, anger all so you could spend eternity with him. He loves you and I so much that he was tempted in the desert for 40 days by the devil, ridiculed, beat nearly to death, and placed on a cross to suffer and die....... all so you could live. That's love. That's unconditional, unfathomable, unattainable love. He did it on His on accord. Nothing you can do or say can make Him love you more or less. He did all that and much more so that you could live for eternity. So that you would have the chance to walk in the garden with Him as Adam and Eve once did. 

So, why would I ever want to take away the true meaning of Christmas from our children? We aren't depriving them of anything. We still give gifts. We still decorate a tree. We still sing Christmas songs. But we do it all in the almighty name of Christ. We celebrate the birth of our King, our Savior. The One who died for our sins. The One who died so we could live. We tell the boys the truth, that God gave daddy a good job so that we can buy presents for them.

" Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 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

I want to be a kind of firstfruit, meaning like the beginning before sin. I want to stay true to God. I want to honor Him and His Son with all that I/we do. I want to acknowledge what scriputure tells us, that "every good and perfect gift is from above."

So what do we tell our boys? We tell them that God loves them so much that He wants us to celebrate Jesus' birthday. And that Jesus loves them so much that He wants them to have presents on His birthday. That's a lot of love because I don't know a small child who would rather give someone gifts when it's their birthday than to receive them!

If you've read our blog before then you know that we are a Christ centered family. We love God and we want our children and others to love God and to know that He loves them and us even more than we can imagine.

And you also know that this verse is in the layout of this blog

" I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3John 1:4

That's us. We're God's children. That's what we want for our children, to know the Truth, the whole truth, and to walk in it. 

So what do we do when we see santa everywhere? We remind the boys that Christmas is Jesus' birthday, and that He loves us so much that He came to earth as man to save us from our sins. And that some people dress up as santa, just like any other mascot. We tell them of who Saint Nicholas really was. That he was a God loving young boy who lost his parents and didn't know what to do with himself or all their money. That he gave presents to those who had nothing. It's a great story and there's even a book you can buy from the christian bookstore about him!

So, we don't "do" santa. We don't "do" elf on the shelf. There have been many debates,questions, arguments, strange looks, ridicule, lost friendships, mocking and tears shed over this subject. But we stand firm in what The Lord has brought light to. And we will continue to tech our children the true meaning of Christmas. Santa is pictured as magical, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient - always present, all powerful, all knowing. Santa is portrayed as a god. But there's only One God. One God who is all of those things and more, our Heavenly Father. God has commanded us to "put no other gods before Me" in the Ten Commandments, and we are going to follow His commands.

" Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority." Colossians 2:6-9

 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7

"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."" John 14:6

This has been on my heart, more so than ever this holiday season. I seek to tell the truth. We never want to lie to our children. We never want them to question God and His love or Magnificence.
If you have questions, go to the living Word, the Bible. God has it all written out for us. Seek His truth.

Here's a great post by a Pastor about santa as Christians:
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/rethinking-santa

Here's another blog that I've read about Christ and santa and has some more information too: 

http://gospelcenteredmom.blogspot.com/2014/12/what-to-do-about-santa.html