Santa vs. Jesus

Often we hear of Christmas as a day for the children, because we have adopted the tradition of bringing presents to the kids on this day. Santa Claus the big jolly guy dressed in red bringing presents on Christmas eve to the children of the world, has taken the center stage of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. I do not advocate for the elimination of Santa Claus, after all it is a very nice tradition… who as a child did not love to receive gifts from Santa? The Christian world has adopted Santa Claus as part of the Christmas celebration. As a Christian, I am OK with it as long as Santa is just that, part of the celebration and does not take the first place and becomes the celebration itself. In Christmas we rejoice for the birth of the Savior of the World. We sing with the angels Glory to God in the highest! We are thankful for God’s visitation to earth. God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life. We need to teach our children the true meaning of Christmas. Navidad=nacimiento / Christmas= mass for Christ. Chirstmas is the day God came to earth in His Son Jesus. It is the gift of hope, light and life to all humanity. God’s gift is free. It is given to us by His grace, just because He loved us. I give presents to my wife, children, and friends, for the relation we have.  I don’t usually give to the unknown person, but God gave Jesus to us freely, that we may be saved by believing in Him. God gave me something to believe, hope to hold on to, new meaning to my life. If I give you 100.00 and you accept it, you are 100.00 richer. When we receive the gift of Jesus, we have peace, forgiveness of sin, the Holy Spirit in us, the love of God, eternal life and we are adopted in God’s family as children of God. That is Christmas. Let Jesus be born in your heart.

Luke 2:8-20 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ¹⁴ “ Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”¹⁵ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Matthew 2:11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.