Ever wish you could go back and experience Christmas as a child again?
Leaving cookies and milk out for Santa; waking up off and on throughout Christmas Eve night and wondering if he might be in your house at that very moment; racing down the stairs on Christmas morning and tearing into gifts like a starving lion on a pile of steaks; screaming, “This is JUST what I wanted!” if you find that one thing that was starred and circled and written in red at the top of your list.
We were blessed to spend Christmas with our oldest son, his wife, and their two kids, ages six and five, and it was so much fun to do Christmas with little ones and once again experience, through them, all that wonder and unbridled excitement.
The window for the “suspension of disbelief” about Santa is pretty narrow. The mystery doesn’t last long, so you have to enjoy it while you can.
As we grow older, it seems we don’t get quite as excited about the gifts we get. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as our focus should shift from getting to giving as we mature, but it does take some of the zing out of Christmas morning.
I was thinking about this—about why little kids get so much more stoked about getting Christmas gifts than adults do–and I think it’s because children can’t buy stuff for themselves. Our excitement level about receiving gifts is proportional to our perceived ability to get those things for ourselves.
Sure, we adults appreciate the thoughtfulness behind gifts we receive, but since we can simply click a button on Amazon.com and have stuff shipped to us in two days, most of us don’t jump up and down and scream, “This is JUST what I wanted!” when we open gifts.
We’re not likely to feel the unbridled joy of a five-year-old who has no money, no charge card, and no way to drive herself to Walmart.
We most appreciate what we know we can’t buy or do for ourselves.
Maybe that’s why so many people struggle to truly worship God—even church members dutifully packing the pews every Sunday.To understand and appreciate the grace of God, we have to know it’s not something we can buy, earn or deserve. And many people simply don’t believe that.
Many people embrace the lie that they can earn God’s love and buy a ticket to heaven with good works. They don’t understand how incredibly far Jesus stooped when He came to purchase salvation for us.
Other religions are about men working their way to God. Only Christianity is about God reaching out and down to us.
In Ephesians 2:9-10, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that although God has planned good works for each of us to do, those works can’t save us. That may offend our pride, but it’s also unbelievably freeing.
We won’t feel secure in or thrilled with salvation until we know what Paul knew: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
When we really get that, we won’t struggle to worship Him. We’ll be overwhelmed with the gift He has offered us.
The childlike wonder of Christmas can be ours every day because God’s gifts to us are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23).
Every day we can unwrap His love, His mercy, His peace, His hope, His joy, His strength, His kindness, His provision, and His promise of heaven. And when we understand how little we deserve all of that, we realize it’s JUST what we wanted.