Santa Would Make a Horrible god
Have you ever really thought about it that way: that Santa would make a horrible god? He would. Receiving good things from Santa requires you to be “nice” rather than “naughty”, “good” rather than “bad”. In some ways, that is similar to the true God of Christianity. God does reward the righteous.
But what is Santa’s definition, or standard, of “good”? If the definition of good is when a person’s “good” deeds outweigh his bad, then I guess Santa then must make distinctions between those whose “good” deeds are at 51% versus those at 63%, 75%, and 81%, etc. Shouldn’t those with more “goodness” get more “good” things? And I guess, all those who fall below the 51% mark get nothing. Those that come in at 49% get the same nothing as those who are only 1% “good”.
What a horrible god Santa would make. I imagine many a million kids on Christmas morning discover that apparently they’re not “good” enough, that they just didn’t measure up to Santa’s standard of righteousness. And what hope do they have? None, because Santa would make a horrible god. They have no way of knowing what 51% looks like. Worse yet, why would anyone think that 51% good is good enough, or even 99% for that matter? Is a glass of water with only 1% pig manure “good” enough. This is why we need Jesus so desperately.
Jesus didn’t come into the world to just make it possible for us to be righteous. Jesus came into the world to be our righteousness through His perfectly obedient life, His perfect substitutionary death on the cross, and His perfect victory over sin and death. All who put their faith in Jesus as there only hope, turning from their sin and turning to Him, will receive His imputed righteousness. The gift of Heaven is not based on being naughty or nice; it’s based on the perfection of Christ on our behalf and distributed according to the riches of God’s grace and mercy in accordance with His sovereign purpose. May God be gracious to us and our children as we teach them to treasure Jesus this Christmas.
Sola Gratia,
Jeremy Vanatta