Who is the central figure of Christmas?
Well, on the one hand, many good Christians would say Jesus Christ is the central figure. I mean it is his coming to earth as a baby that is the basis for Christmas, right? Right.
On the other hand, many good Christians would say that Santa is the central figure of Christmas because the reality is that more people are concerned with being good for Santa and getting good gifts than they are with worshiping Jesus Christ and celebrating the incarnation.
Hmmmm… what to do when our theology and reality do not match up.
There is a very real danger when the traditions of Christmas color our worship. Do we worship Christ at Christmas? Yes, of course we do. The real question is: do we worship Him rightly? Is there a sense in which we kind of merge Santa and Jesus and end up worshiping some hybrid Jesus? A Jesus who only wants to bless us if we have been good all year? A Jesus whose sole purpose is to give us good toys to play with?
Read this article by Sinclair Ferguson. It is really good.
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