![\"\"](\"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Remember-the-Christmas-song-Santa-Claus-Is-Coming-To-Town-300x222.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRemember the Christmas song,\u00a0Santa Claus Is Coming To Town? <\/i>I heard it on the radio this week.<\/b><\/p>\n
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town<\/b><\/p>\n
You better watch out
\nYou better not cry
\nYou better not pout
\nI\u2019m telling you why
\nSanta Claus is coming to town<\/b><\/p>\n
He\u2019s making a list,
\nChecking it twice,
\nGonna find out who\u2019s naughty or nice.
\nSanta Claus is coming to town<\/b><\/p>\n
He sees you when you\u2019re sleeping
\nHe knows when you\u2019re awake
\nHe knows if you\u2019ve been bad or good
\nSo be good for goodness sake<\/b><\/p>\n
The idea that Santa knew when I was bad or good, that he saw me all the time was a little scary. But I knew from past experience that it really didn\u2019t affect what I got for Christmas. Santa always came through.<\/p>\n
Still, it was an upsetting thought. But it was not nearly as upsetting as when the pastor said that God saw everything we did. My reaction was always, \u201cOh no. Not that.\u201d As my mind ran through all the things I didn\u2019t want God or my parents to find out. The very thought that God kept his eye on me filled me with terror. He knew more about me than my parents or my best friends. That was scary.<\/p>\n
But life brings change. I got married and had children and grandchildren. Looking at my own reaction to those I love helped me understand Jesus\u2019 reaction to me.<\/p>\n
I get a great deal of pleasure out of watching my children and grandchildren on their life journey. I love them. I want to be a part of their lives. I like knowing their life situations. I take pleasure in their achievements. I want to support them in their struggles. I want to pray for them in both. I want to share their lives because I love them. I have no desire to punish them. Their choices bring their own consequences, both bad and good.<\/p>\n
The same is true of Barbara. I enjoy watching her. I get a lot of pleasure watching how she interacts with people, host people in our home and handles life. She is so oriented to people. She makes friends with waitresses and clerks and sometimes total strangers. I love watching her in those situations. Why? Because I love her.<\/p>\n
I think that is the way Jesus is with me. He loves me. He wants to be involved in my life. He is not out to punish me. Because God became man in Jesus, he has empathy for me in whatever situation I am in.<\/p>\n
He is watching so that he can help, encourage, support and be involved as much as I will let him. He wants to live in a love relationship with me. The relationship is dependent on him, not me. He offers, I respond.<\/p>\n
At this stage of my life, the idea that he is watching is actually far more comforting than anything else. Whatever may come to me in life, Jesus is there involved in the situation. If I fail, he is there to pick me up and encourage me\u2014not punish. It makes no difference if the failure is the fault of life circumstances or my bad choices. If I have a life victory he is there cheering me on.<\/p>\n
Thank goodness Jesus knows what happened in my life yesterday. He also knows what will happen today and is helping prepare me for what will happen today and what will happen on future days.<\/p>\n
Santa Claus\u2019 knowledge of me was always connected to reward (presents) or punishment. It had nothing to do with relationship. It was a scorecard. Jesus doesn\u2019t keep score. He is on our side when we succeed. He is on our side when we fail. He knows, but he loves us in spite of who we are or what we do. He is on our side.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Remember the Christmas song,\u00a0Santa Claus Is Coming To Town? I heard it on the radio this week. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town You better watch out You better not cry You better not pout I\u2019m telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town He\u2019s making a list, Checking it twice, Gonna find out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions\/188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calvinlangton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}