No More Naughty List: How Jesus Upends Our Record of Wrongs
Around the snack table one December afternoon, some of my grandchildren and I were talking about the multiple enticements of the Christmas season—all the extras that can be fun, but can also take our focus off Jesus. One of them, still trying to piece the varying messages of the season together, brought up the “naughty list,” imploring that we definitely don’t want to end up there!
Seizing a golden Grammy opportunity, I quickly interjected,“You know who doesn’t keep a ‘naughty list?’ Jesus!” In fact, Christmas is the beautiful abolishment of the “naughty list” for those who recognize their need for a Savior and believe and follow him!
While it’s true that, as sinners, our “naughties” are recorded and held against us, there is good news that the story of Santa Claus doesn't bring. At Christmastime, we celebrate the birth of the one who came to wipe away our sins and give us undeserved grace. So, as we disciple our children in the gospel, dwelling on the cultural concept of the “naughty list” can distort a right understanding of the gift of salvation we have in Christ.
When we look to Jesus, we can see the negative implications of this “naughty list” philosophy and meet it head-on with biblical truth.
Naughty List Lie #1: We get what we deserve. If we’ve been bad—if our ledger is weightier in the wrongs column than the rights—we deserve a giftless Christmas; “we made our bed, now we have to lie in it.”
A Countering Christmas Truth: Our Savior’s birth means that for those who say “yes” to Jesus, we don’t get what we deserve. Since the fall, what each of us deserves is eternal separation from God. Romans 3:23 declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And, as sinners, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Death and eternal punishment are what we deserve because of our sin. But for those who believe and trust Christ as Savior, we receive grace and mercy instead.
One of our more perfection-oriented grandkids was practicing handwriting when he wanted to erase a letter and re-do it. After I gently encouraged him that it needn’t be perfect, he asked if Jesus ever uses an eraser. I enthusiastically conveyed to him that while Jesus never makes mistakes, he does erase on our behalf—he erases the penalty of our sins! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Because of Jesus, we can have a clean slate!
Yes, our behavior still matters. Romans 6:1-2 appeals, “Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” The erasing of sin’s penalty through Christ isn’t a license to live life as we please. Disobedience has consequences, and God is just and disciplines his children out of love for us.[1] But, our “naughty list” can never stand against the truth that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time” (Hebrews 10:10). Jesus not only cleanses us from our naughtiness, but also gives us brand-new power for obedience!
Naughty List Lie #2: We earn our gifts. As kids, if we’ve been nice to our sister and we didn’t hit our brother, then we expect Christmas will be gift-filled. Our own efforts have paid off. If our good deeds outweigh our bad and tip the scale in the right direction, gifts are due us. We can continue this pattern into adulthood, working to earn ourselves eternity in heaven. But this behavior-based theology assumes we can actually save ourselves.
A Countering Christmas Truth: Salvation is an un-earnable gift. The second half of Romans 6:23 proclaims, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 2:8-9 affirms, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.”
On our own, we’re powerless to wash away our sins. Jeremiah 2:22 reminds, “Even if you wash with lye and use a great amount of bleach, the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me.” We’re like the hand towel by the bathroom sink. Even though it’s used immediately after handwashing, it still perplexingly gets dirty. Because we miss spots or we simply can’t scrub hard enough, the towel used to dry clean hands still becomes stained. The Son of God came not only to save us from our sins, but from our own feeble, fruitless attempts at saving ourselves. His march to the cross freed us from our relentless attempts at ledger-keeping.
Instead of trying to earn our salvation, we pursue Christ, to whom salvation originated and belongs.[2] We’re told in 2 Peter 3:18 to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” When we let go of our futile quest for self-salvation, we can then follow and obey him out of unbridled love for him.[3]
This time of year, we may hear that “Santa Claus is coming to town,” but the reality is…Jesus did come to town! He came at the height of our naughtiness—“while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). God gave the most costly gift ever to be given—his one and only son. One. And only. Son. God lovingly gave the greatest gift in the history of humankind to a sin-stained, self-obsessed, naughty-beyond-imagination world—our world.
Whatever fun, Christmas “extras” we adopt or continue with our families, let’s be sure to pass on the freeing theology of Christ, our naughty list slayer. He’s the one who will be “for” his people from Christmas to Christmas, and from everlasting to everlasting.[4]
[1] Proverbs 3:12; Jeremiah 30:11
[2] Psalm 3:8
[3] 1 John 5:3
[4] Romans 8:31
