For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
From the true person named Saint Nicholas, a Christian bishop born in AD 280, came the fictional character called Santa Claus. Like Saint Nicholas, who had a heart for the needy, Santa Claus supposedly has a heart for children and gives his gifts to them one day a year.
Children today love to hear the poem Twas The Night Before Christmas, that tells a fictional story of Saint Nicholas, but children today know him as Santa Claus. A line in the poem states, He looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
When we hear the word “peddler,” we think of a sly salesman, a hawker, a con artist, a scammer, or a huckster. We have programmed ourselves to be wary of a sale that looks too good. “Nothing comes for free” is the mentality we have adopted because we have learned that there is usually a very high price tag at the end.
Yet this fictional character called Santa gives these gifts with no strings attached--or at least so it seems to the children. What the children do not know is that their parents pay a high price tag.
The proclaimed Messiah came as a baby called Jesus. He is not fictional, nor is He merely historical. He came to live His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. His gift to us was totally free with no strings attached, but this is not a gift of only the past; it is a gift for all generations. Jesus had and continues to have a heart for the needy, depraved, and sin sick humanity. The price tag was very high indeed for Him; it was His blood, His body, His life.
Those who claim Him as their Savior now become His righteous peddlers. We haul our packs of blessings in our hearts, minds, and souls and dole them out all year long, not only at Christmas. If this gift seems too good to be true, it is and it isn’t. The gift of eternal life through Jesus is too good for us, but the message is infinitely, definitely true.
Thank You God for Your gift of forgiveness and redemption through your Son. Amen
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