More Than Santa

     So I'm currently looking out the window at snow beginning to gather and listening to the the wind pummel the glass.  I'm also listening to Nat King Cole sing "The Christmas Song", his smoky voice completely capturing the Holidays.  As I look outside I realize the tremendous blessing of being inside and warm right now...there's another part of me however that longs to play in the snow, enjoying winter's chill as I did when I was a child, only to be rewarded with a cup of hot cocoa and a warm hug from my mother.  Many of you can relate to the dichotomy of that idea...the fierce desire for one thing even as another desire is equally, if not more, overpowering.
   
     Now think about our current season:  the excitement of giving proportionately tempered by the thrill of getting.  Many would say it's more important to give then to receive and there's truth to that but if you received absolutely nothing this Christmas, how thrilled would you be?  Now I'm talking nothing...not a card, not a phone call, no gifts, no stocking, not even a lump of coal!  I'd be mad... that sounds horrible but it's true!  I'd feel jilted and angry and betrayed.  Thank God that He never feels that way because far too often He gets nothing from the people who say they care about Him the most.
   
     Romans 5:8 states, "God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."  Simply put, when we were still enemies of God He loved us enough to die for us.  For those calling themselves Christians, there's supposedly been a change in that relationship.  No longer enemies, Christ calls us friends.  But too often we don't treat Him as a friend, we treat Him as a genie  in a bottle...as Santa Claus...there to provide good things when we want them.  He's the under-appreciated parent who's there with the cocoa and the hug but once the child's warm He gets left alone and discarded until the next emergency.  He's necessary in hard times but far less in times of peace and quiet.  What He wants, His great desire, is for something more...much more:  "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become Children of God, to those who believe in His name." (John 1:12)  God is not content to be called on only in a time of need...He wants us to realize that we have been adopted as His children with all the blessings that come with that distinction.  There's no dichotomy in this relationship...there's only a need for full commitment because He's already made His commitment...a commitment to love and bring hope and comfort and overarching peace to all who believe and embrace Him as Lord.

     This Christmas, let's remember who God is.  Let's make Him more than the genie...more than Santa.  As He opens the doors of our lives, embracing us with His warm arms, let's hold on a little tighter and a little longer.  And as we do, let's enjoy being children of the King as we too reach out and love those around us.