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You Better Watch Out...

"You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why...Santa Clause is coming to town...He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake."
     Hi, Page Turner here! Oh, wow. Where do I begin? Iconic song, right? A happy little tune that merrily tells us that Santa is a stalker, and if we aren't good we'll have the worst Christmas ever. But that rarely happens, right? Only a few children ever actually get coal in their stockings, and you pretty much have to rob a bank to get the infamous punishment of sooty black rocks. But, if you're good you can have a doll, or a toy car...or a Wii, or a real car. That's all nice and good and all. I mean, Santa seems like a good guy. He's kindly, plump, and sports an awesome white beard. What's not to love? Well, beside the whole 'he's-a-stalker' thing, I have one bone to pick with one of my favorite character: he is a horrible judge of character. Not trying to be negative, or anything, but Santa is just plain ol' bad at that. It's a fact. Because get this: nobody's good. That's right, you heard me. If Santa were to make a true Naughty List, we'd all be on it, and we deserve a whole lot more than coal. Because only God is good, and He's perfect. We might say we're good, or we do 'good deeds', but, honestly, if we lived an entire life of 'good deeds' never 'messed up', strove to do our best and got so many brownie points for morality we could open up a bakery, we'd still fall short. In fact, we wouldn't even be on the chart of goodness. Because nobody can be the teeniest bit good without God--not the tiniest. It's like trying to compare garbage to diamonds and gold...only that's an understatement. So what's up with all this joy around Christmastime? Because that's the reason for Christmas. We don't deserve the tiniest measure of mercy, but wholly deserve punishment. But God loved us and sent His Son to live a life on earth. He died for us, and rose again, and if we repent and believe that His death on the cross covered for our sins--because nothing we could do could ever pay for them--we can spend eternity with Him. And it's not just that. He loves us each personally and is our Lord and Friend all throughout our life, and changes us to be more like Him. He's the most amazing gift you could EVER receive. If that's not Joy to the World, what is?  So all you Santa-lovers, think of it as an allegory. Maybe he's not such a horrible judge of character after all. Maybe we still get gifts, even though we're naughty, because of the real reason of Christmas--the most amazing gift ever, Jesus and the amazing gift of grace He has given us. He's the real, only, true, and most amazing reason for the season. Merry Christmas, all, and to all a good night!                                                                                          ---Ho, ho, ho, page turner

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