Santa or Savior?

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Santa is practically on his way.  Children are in full anticipation of his arrival, experiencing no
doubt of his arrival.  I don't believe that I've ever heard a child say, "what if Santa doesn't come."  They are confidently focused on packages arriving: gifts, gadgets and gizmos!  This bold anticipation of Santa's arrival is a teaching moment for me.  

Before the birth of Jesus, the Jewish people did not doubt a Savior was coming.  They faithfully knew that one day he would come.  They were preparing for him; not with ribbons and wrappings but with hearts of quiet anticipation knowing he was practically on his way.

As we enter the last ten days before December 25, I wonder if I'm anticipating Santa or a Savior.

It seems that in the age that Jesus was born,  people were starving for a Saviour.  They lived life desperate for a hero, a conqueror.  They realized that their only hope was for a king to come and defeat their enemies.  People had come to realize that they could no longer fight their own battles and survive as the enemy was just too strong.  So, they cried out anticipating the Savior was coming.

Zechariah praised God...in anticipation of the Savior.  As did Simeon.  As did the angels.  As did Anna.  As did the shepherds.  All these people only knew the promise of a Savior.  They didn't experience the full story of the baby's growth, his teaching, his persecution, his death, his new life.

Yet, God spoke and they believed, they anticipated the new born King.  This King who came to defeat not only political enemies but those enemies that live in each of us.  The memories we have of hurts, experiences that damaged us and those age-old pains that we just can't seem to release.  Maybe we had an expectation of a different life, a different experience in marriage, or in family, or in health.

This Christmas let us anticipate our redemption and the defeat of all our aches, pains, disappointments.  He has been born to remove all that pain from us and to take those burdens on himself.  The Glory of Christmas is that He left his own Kingdom and came to feel, share, carry, and hold us so that we could have Him.

What is He bringing?  Are we anticipating or hopeful for gifts, gadgets or gizmos?  Has this time of year become just a long list of to-dos, present buying, and surviving the holiday?  Do we often forget that we too have a Savior to anticipate?


“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, 

because he has come to his people and redeemed them.' Luke 1:68


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