O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:1-10
A couple of weeks ago, my seventeen year old son thanked me for not letting him or his siblings believe in Santa Claus (or the Easter Bunny, or even the tooth fairy)....he went on to explain that in “not” doing that, I raised children who are less prone to be gullible. He made me chuckle.
The reason I didn’t have my children “believe” in those characters is because I didn’t want to go through the deception (or force them to follow along with younger siblings) for years and then later have to say, “Oh, by the way, they aren’t real.” To me it was deceit that would spiral into more and more lies. Why bother? Way too much useless work would be put into that farce.
This year, however, (I’m sure through the working of the Holy Spirit) I came to a more profound awareness. Being in a building of around 500 children who range in age from five to seven, and listening to various conversations about Santa, broke my heart. They were talking about him as if he were God…The God of Psalm 139.
My immediate thought was, “Thank you, Lord, for giving me wisdom in how I dealt with the story of Santa Claus with my own children.” The verses in Matthew, Mark, and Luke are grave reminders of how we are to raise our children.
Matthew 18:6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Mark 9:42 "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.
Luke 17:2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
The subject of Santa is not to be taken lightly. God is a jealous God. Listening to our sermons on Sunday evenings from Deuteronomy and Joshua have made me even more aware of that truth. So to my own kids: Put your efforts into this (not Santa Claus, Elf on the Shelf, the Easter bunny, or the tooth fairy)…teach my grandchildren about God and His love and mercy, His redemption of His people through His Son, Jesus, who came to earth in the form of a baby, died, was buried, rose from the dead, and went into heaven, who now sits at the right hand of God, who will come to judge all people one day. Teach them about heaven and hell. Teach them about forgiveness and how we are to live for God out of thankfulness for all He has done. That is what is truly “real.”
