The Question is not, "Do You Believe in Santa?"

Every year at Christmas time, one of the aching questions for children is, "Do you believe in Santa?" Believing in Santa is one of those hallmarks of childhood. That a child believes in Santa is a indicator that they are still indeed a child, naive with a bit of innocence, things we as parents want to keep as long as possible. As adults though, the most important question at Christmas should be, "Do you believe in Jesus?" Oh, I have no doubt many, if  not most of us would answer, "yes," but do we truly believe?

You see there is a difference between thinking someone is real, and truly believing in them. I know for a fact that President Trump is real, but do I believe in him? Since this blog is about religion and not politics I will not answer that question, but I will say that one can believe someone is or was a real person without ever believing in them. The word, "believe" comes from Old English,  belyfan "to have faith or confidence." It was the word that the newly converted Anglo-Saxons chose to describe their relationship with their new found Savior, Our Lord, Jesus Christ. You see they had faith in him, they had confidence in him as their Savior. They knew with their conversion to Christianity that their souls were saved from eternal damnation. And what's more they knew that their souls were saved by doing what Jesus asked of them. They knew if they did things Jesus' way, that they were being lead to an afterlife of bliss in Heaven.

So answering the question, "Do you believe in Jesus?" is not one so easily answered. Yes, I think many if not most of us think he is real, but do we truly believe his way is best? Look at the world around us. Look at how people treat other people. Look at how you yourself treat others. Can we truly say that any of us believe in Jesus? Can you say we are confident that practicing his teachings will make this a better world? Or do we believe that selfish opportunist practices are the best way to

lead life?

How many times have you seen people look judgingly down on the downtrodden? Instead of lending a helping hand, too many times people ask questions like, "Why don't they just get a better job?" or "They would be better off without all those children?" We do not see it as our place to care for others. We think they should look out for themselves.

America is a nation of Individualists, we are not a Union, or a Community. We are, I fear, a nation that encourages people to lookout for their own self interests. And this flies in the face of what Jesus taught. While we glorify those that have achieved wealth or fame by looking out for themselves in the drive to hoard wealth, Jesus told us instead to look after those who need it most.

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you (Matthew 5:42). 

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:12-14).

And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise (Luke 3:11).

By following those that have sought material gain, hoard wealth, and encourage us to do the same we are not believing in Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to hold dear to our hearts the Sacrifice He made for us to save us from our sins, and in holding his Sacrifice dear to our hearts, to practice what he taught. If we follow the ways of the World, we are saying that the ways of the Koch Brothers Charles and David H., and George Soros are better than those of our own Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are saying that stepping on the disenfranchised to get ourselves ahead is the way to live life, and that the way of Jesus is one for suckers and those gullible enough to believe all those hard luck stories of the poor, sick, and lame. And in doing so we are not believing in Jesus. We are not holding faith, being confident that what he taught is the way we should behave.Instead we have chosen the way of the World as being somehow superior in seeking our rewards. We are saying that those that encourage us to seek material gain at all costs and hoard material wealth know better than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And in choosing to believe in the World, we are also choosing not to believe in Jesus.

And if you consider yourself a True Christian, this is very sad as being selfish, stepping on others to get ahead may get us what we want in the short term (and that short term may be our entire lives), but in the long term, that is, all eternity it is the way of Jesus that will reap the greatest reward.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son (John 3:18)

Believing in Jesus means so much more than just believing he was a real person, or even thinking he is the Savior, it means having faith in that practicing what he taught us about leading our lives, about how to treat others is the way to eternal Salvation, and that the opportunist ways of the World are a sure path to Hell. So when you are asked the question, "Do you believe in Jesus?" ask yourself, "Do I hold faith, have confidence that Jesus' teachings are the best way to live my life? Or do I believe instead in the wicked ways of the World?" Do you BELIEVE in Jesus?