God is NOT like Santa Claus

What do you think God is like?

The first theology course I ever took started with this question.  The professor walked in, looked at us and said, “The most important theological question you can ever answer for yourself is this: ‘What do you think God is like?’  The rest of this class will be devoted to answering that question.”  I was hooked.  And I’ve devoted much of my life contemplating the answer to that question ever since.    

Recently I’ve noticed that a lot of people think God is like Santa Claus.

They think that God’s primarily interested in behavior, whether you’ve been naughty or nice, and he’s watching you very closely, every move you make really.  Then, based on your behavior, he controls and orchestrates the circumstances of your life accordingly.  If, for example, you’ve been generally good, God will ensure that good things come your way.  He’ll give you a good job, a nice house, perfect kids—a problem free life, more or less.  If, however, you’ve been bad, God will withhold his blessings and may even punish you.  He’ll keep you unemployed, make sure all the appliances in your house break, give you mischievous kids—a life riddled with problems, more or less.  According to this Santa Claus view of God, God’s keeping a list, checking it twice, and will reward or punish you depending upon your naughty / nice quota.  Some would even go so far as to suggest that your eternal destination hangs on this quota.  How nice is nice enough? becomes a very scary question.     

This Santa Claus view of God with its corresponding naughty / nice theology ultimately leads to one of two attitudes: confidence or despair. 

On the one hand, you’ve got those who are fairly confident that they’ve been nice and that blessings are coming their way.  Like the Pharisee in the temple who prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.”  Like the older brother in the infamous parable who refused to welcome home his younger brother and complained to his dad, “Look!  All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.  Yet you never gave me even a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends.”  Confident and entitled describes this first group with Santa Claus theology—confident that they’ve been nice and deserve blessings, confident when others have been naughty and deserve God’s wrath.  Not surprisingly, but very unfortunately, most within this first group can be found in the church.  Even more unfortunately, they are often in leadership positions. 

I recently watched a video clip right after 9/11 in which Jerry Falwell confidently stated that this was God’s judgment upon America for turning away from him.  Santa Claus theology.  I am reminded of John Piper’s similar comments after the collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis and again after some tornadoes touched down near the Twin Cities.  Santa Claus theology—a theology that confidently assumes God rewards and punishes according to behavior…and that we have the inside track to discern which is which.        

On the one hand, you’ve got those who are confident.  But on the other hand, you’ve got those who despair.  They know they’ve been naughty and are plagued by a sense of hopelessness regarding what the future holds.  I encountered someone from this second group about a month back.  We had about a two-hour conversation in which he explained to me that God’s mercy is only for the “saints” of the world.  He told me, “I’m no saint.  What’s coming my way, when all is said and done, won’t be pleasant.”  Perhaps somewhat ironically, he kept referring to God as “the good Lord” throughout our conversation. 

What’s so important to notice about these attitudes – confidence and despair – is that both depend upon a Santa Claus view of God.  The first group is confident they’ve been good enough and the second group is confident that they haven’t.  The former is, in my estimation, a lot more dangerous than the latter.    

But here’s the thing…

God is NOT like Santa Claus!!! 

Whatever your view of God, it has got to match that of Jesus Christ. 

Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.  He’s the radiance of the divine nature and the exact representation of God’s being (Heb. 1:3).  Jesus is the divine logos (Jn. 1:1) and the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).  Jesus is the God over all (Rom. 9:5) and the fullness of deity dwells in him (Col. 2:9).  Jesus once said, “If you see me, you see the Father” (Jn. 14:9).  In other words, if you want to know what God is like, you need to look at Jesus. 

If you look at Jesus, what becomes clear quite quickly is that God is NOT like Santa Claus.  The truth of the matter is that we all deserve coal in our stockings.  We do.  And so I want to say to the first group, the over-confident group, “Knock it off!!!  You’re not that nice!  You’re not that good!  You’re certainly not nice or good enough!  You deserve coal like everybody else.  Moreover, who are you to determine when bad life circumstances are divinely orchestrated punishments?”  But then I want to say to the second group, the despairing group, “You do deserve coal, like everyone else.  And I am glad you realize that.  That’s an important first step.  But you don’t have to despair.  The coal you deserve has been taken care of by Jesus on the cross.” 

The good news is that God doesn’t give us coal.  He gives us grace and mercy and love.  And it’s 100 percent free.  You can’t earn it or work for it.  All you can do is open your hands and receive it, just like any gift at Christmas time.