Naughty or Nice?

 You better watch out/You better not cry/Better not pout/I'm telling you why/Santa Claus is coming to town. 

He's making a list/And checking it twice/Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice . . . .

 

Who hasn’t heard (or sung) that song over the years at Christmastime? Santa is coming to town tonight, and before he arrives he’ll be making a list, checking it twice to see who was naughty or nice during the past year. He leaves presents for the nice. The naughty get lumps of coal.

 

I’m so glad that’s not how God works. That’s not how God has ever worked. No one – no one – is so nice to not need a Savior. No one is so naughty that the Savior did not die in their place. It is to the naughty – and the nice – that Jesus offers His gift of forgiveness and eternal life.

 

God says to us, “Merry Christmas” because 2000 years ago He demonstrated His love for us, in that while we were being woefully naughty – or even being wonderfully nice – Jesus died as a substitutionary sacrifice so that we might receive His gift of a new life (Romans 5:8). He died so we might receive a slate wiped clean with His precious blood. A gift of God so priceless that every confessed sin, ANY confessed sin, would never again be remembered by God.

 

On Christmas day of 2020, as many as receive that gift of Calvary, as many as look to that cross and say, “Jesus, forgive me. Jesus change me. Jesus cleanse me. Jesus, I want to love you, to serve you" – as many as will receive Him, to them and to them alone God gives the right to be called sons and daughter of God (John 1:12).

 

Been naughty? Jesus is waiting to hear you say it: “Jesus, I come.”

Been nice? Jesus is waiting to hear you say it: “Jesus, I come.”

 

Forgiveness and eternal life. THAT is Almighty God’s idea of Christmas: That all who come to Him in confession have His solemn vow of forgiveness. To all who will come, He says, “Merry Christmas. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”