Some lines from the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”:

- He's making a list and checking it twice...

- Gonna find out who's naughty and nice...

- Santa Claus is comin' to town...

- He sees you when you're sleepin'...

- He knows when you're a wake...

- He knows if you've been bad or good...

-S o be good for goodness sake..

This is the world’s view of how things work. And many times, it’s very much like how most things in hockey work. You know how it goes.

Do good = lots of presents and praise (maybe some pp time and a new contract)

Do bad = lump of coal and skipped over (maybe benched or even cut from the team)

So, life becomes doing good in order to get things. It’s a “I scratch your back, you scratch my back” type of deal. Even in our thinking about Christmas! The problem is … we often take this thinking and attach it to God as well. Maybe we think, “he’s kind of like a Santa, right?!?!” If I’m good he should reward me. He should give me what I want.

Perhaps.

But, this is NOT how God works. This is not even how we work. Read the verse below.

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

This verse is the opposite of how we say Santa operates. How the business world frequently operates. And, how the hockey world definitely operates. It gives us two big truths:

1. We are sinners.

2. God still loves us even though we are sinners.

Romans 5:8 tells us that we are not as ‘good’ as we think we are. God doesn’t need to make a list to know this. He knows this because even more than Santa, he truly knows when we are sleeping or awake. He knows everything about us. And, if we’re honest with ourselves. I think we also know we aren’t as good as God wants us to be. We mess up. We fail. We are bad in times we should be ‘good’. God has every right to put us on his naughty list. Yet, here is where the Christian message is so awesome compared to the song above and the world around us. God knows we are sinners, yet he still came to earth to give his life for you and me! He didn’t give us a lump of coal. He didn’t shake his head and fly over our house saying maybe next year if you behave better. NO! He was born a man in order to save man even though he knew what was in man. Completely different than what we might expect. Completely awesome to think about. God loves you and has given you the great gift of Jesus not because of what you do, but because of who He is … a God of grace, love, and forgiveness.