Substituted By A Mortal Man

The shopping malls are beautifully decorated for the Christmas season. Their interconnecting walkways are lined with spectacular, towering Christmas trees with elaborate, store-bought ornaments arranged in striking colour coordinations. The many strings of bright-gold incandescent and colourful LED lights that dangle from ceilings and coil over railings bring Christmas to life. Passing children are awestruck, and rightly so, for Christmas is indeed a marvelous time of year.

The main attraction of it all is an old, plump man who dresses in a red, velvety suit with fuzzy white trim and a matching hat. He wears a wide, shiny black leather belt and a pair of tall, shiny black leather boots. He has a long white beard, a set of round rosy cheeks, a pair of crinkling eyes, and a jolly laugh. His name is Santa Claus, a person whom mankind has bestowed with magical powers. He has the ability to know if a child is good or not, but not what gifts they want — children must either stand in line at the mall and tell him, or write to him their wishes in a letter addressed to the North Pole. If they are good, he gives them on Christmas Eve whatever they desire. This man has the support of many elves, a loving wife that's a good cook, reindeers with the special ability to fly, a magical sleigh, and a large red bag that can hold an unwieldily number of toys and presents. In a single night, once a year, he miraculously delivers his gifts to all the well-behaved children around the world.

It's no wonder Santa Claus is idolized by millions of children across the world. But he is not real. His powers are make-believe. What is worse, Santa has taken the place of Jesus on His birthday. It isn't even Santa's birthday, or the birthday of Saint Nicolas, a mere mortal man from which the fictional Santa Claus is derived. Jesus, on the other hand, is the Son of God, the greatest revelation to mankind of God's boundless love for us. If it wasn't for the birth of Jesus, none of us would be able to taste Heaven and to one day be in the glorious presence of God where all our heart's desires are eternally fulfilled.

"And the angel said to them,

'Fear not, for behold,

I bring you good news of great joy

that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day

 in the city of David,

a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.'"

Luke 2:10-11

On the day when people should be celebrating the most loving, generous,gracious, eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient person, they are instead celebrating a fictionalized, nonexistent person. How it must grieve the heart of God to see Santa Claus take the place of His Son. How it must grieve Him to see children all over this world being told a falsehood about a man that can't even remotely compare to His own Son, Jesus Christ.

If the devote Saint Nicholas were alive on earth today, I believe he would be infuriated and mortified by the world making him an icon. History tells us that Nicholas dearly loved God. Thus it would never have been his desire to transfer the focus of Jesus' birth to himself. Why man is so quick to turn someone into a god when they already have a real One I will never know.

Let's use this season to do all we can to promote and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Let's use Christmas as an opportunity to witness to a lost and deceived world.