GOOD AIN’T GRACE // Special Episode

Merry Christmas, everyone! This week we’re talking about one of the (seemingly) untouchables: Santa Claus. Oh, and also how the Christian life is about grace over goodness. That’s the main point—how important it is for us to focus on serving up grace and truth rather than focusing on works (though works are a definite part).

ANNOTATED TRANSCRIPT

Shea: Here we go. Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Good and great. Good, good, good, good, good. And crisp silent night. Holy night. Good and crisp. Oh, this camp. Oh, it was great. Oh, that’s great. Oh, that’s great. Whoa. Round Yon, Virgin mother and child. What? Grace? Grace. Grace. Grace. Grace. Grace. Good increase. Boom, boom. Hello? Hello.

Michelle: That was, I mean, we just need strobe lights, red and green strobe lights.

Shea: Right, man. What a, what a season to remember?

Michelle: Oh man. Understatement of the year

Shea: Here we are on the 23rd of December, Christmas, 2020. And I got my not 2020 vision on.

Michelle: The lesson at 2020. Is it? Ain’t your vision? Yeah,

Shea: It is not your vision, but no man. It’s t’s been wonderful just to go throughout the year. Man started the podcast. We’re still here And actually I supposed to come and serious on that song. You’re like, Holy, Holy, Holy spray. But yeah, I was supposed to do something little series like that, but no, I liked the stroll right beat. And so I just roll with it. In fact, we were ready to record them in a normal, but she says all year, Oh, can’t you come in different? I just did. Amen.

Michelle: Amen. Times 10.

Shea: Yeah. So tonight obviously from our little mashup

Michelle: if you’re listening before Christmas, you might be

Shea: Man or you might’ve just dug yourself at all. You’re looking for 20, 21. I’m not I’m out here. I’m ready to go. I’m telling you…Drastic instant instantaneous shift. So I’m like 20, 21 word. But that’s for next week, next week, we’re talking about the new year. So, Oh, how awesome is it to sit here and talk. I mean, I so excited so hard times hard things happen. Some, some things changed, but you know what God’s being good. His grace has been sufficient. And when I think about that, it’s like our episode tout. Good grace. So I got a question for you. Yep. Can we do this like question, answer? I don’t know. Maybe not.

Michelle: I’m like, well, I mean like if you asked me the right questions, cause I have things to say

Shea: Number one, simple answer. Have you been naughty or nice?

Michelle: I’ve been washed by the blood!

Shea: Whew. Praise mean to me? Oh man. Squeaky. Like, you’ve done nothing wrong this year.

Michelle: Now we have to get fourth dimensional the answer that proper. Or there’ll be some people in any camp from any old time.

Shea: Gosh. Yeah. There’s, there’s so many camps on that. I look y’all, I’m a center and exactly. And I am never going to say, and I worked walk up. Perfect.

Michelle: No, that’s not why I’m clean.

Shea: Right. It all comes down to one person right now tonight, we’re going to talk about some, some people, right. Or, and, and I think that like in general, most people you can talk about. You’ll find a good percentage. They’ll agree with you and a good percentage on tonight. We might lose our podcasts.

Michelle: I know. We’re we’re about to touch on one of about like to tried and true untouchables. We’re not talking about Beyonce.

Shea: Yeah. Yeah. That’s the other one? Santa Claus. Oh my goodness. So now y’all understand. Or maybe you don’t understand the title. Good grace, right? There’s a lot of people will sit here and say, we’ve gone too far to even bring up his name. But look, we’re not here to beat up traditions that people in their families might have. We really want people to understand maybe a perspective that they might not have thought of and, and, and go from there. And you know what, pray about it. Talk about it, send us emails about it, reach out and beat us up over it or congratulate us on. I don’t know, whatever, but it was something.

Michelle: Yeah, it’s been a little side passion of mine.

Shea: And now that I’m a dad, so there you go. Guess what? At least our household doesn’t have a division,

Michelle: Right? That’s it is tough. Because it’s not just this episode, ain’t just about Santa, but isn’t that the perfect timely conversation and perfect example to use. But this is about living your life. How are you handling relationships in your space? And I’ll say space because not everyone listening is married. Not everyone listening has kids. You might live alone, but then you have neighbors and coworkers and people you encounter randomly throughout your day. You might have a roommate, you might have roommates. It doesn’t change. It’s just important to look at your life and say the world, the world treats stuff the way Santa treats stuff, but we’re called to treat stuff. And people like Christ treats stuff in people, even though we’ve been instilled from societal pressure and from, you know, everyday life kind of trained up in this works-based system, this merit-based system, we have to decide to not be lazy about it. And instead face it, head on, detect it when it’s present and eradicate it from how we handle things

Shea: And the not an attack on St. Nicholas. Cause look, I hear he’s a solid dude. Right. You know, like, hold up. I’m pretty sure when he was giving things away, he wasn’t making a list and checking it twice. He was just giving it away. Right. So on that note, I want to bring in kind of a definition that the world would have on the modern day, Santa Claus, because that’s where we’re at on this thought. And I like what you said, this work-based this, you know, if my neighbor doesn’t do it this way, that I’m not going to be this way. And that is so against biblical truth, to love your enemy, to feed your enemy to water in my favorite, my favorite phrases, I think that I’ve used through 2020 because it really boils down to it. It, it, it ain’t about good is about grace.

Michelle: And, here he goes, Santa Claus makes lists of children, right? Not creepy at all, not creepy, but hold up, hold up, God has a book with your name written in life. So, so, so, so that’s not creepy. So I mean, okay, you know, I’m not gonna fight you there. Right. But he also looks at their behavior. Right. And when it comes down to giving whether it’s presence or whether it’s coal, it’s based off of good works, it’s based off of good. Are they naughty or are they nice? But my questions on that have always been what constitutes good. Right? What what’s that definition look like me knowing. And I walk in perfect. Honestly, every year that I ever did, somebody bring it up, Santa Claus, I played just a premium to coal. Right. Because no matter what amount of good I tried to be, I never leveled up. Right.

Shea: Yeah. As a, I get to say as a mom, right. As a newer mom, but I felt this way for some time I’ve every year I’ve kind of parked on this for at least a little while and thought about it and held it up to the Bible. And I think one thing I straight up asked my parents at like three years old, I was like, Santa is not real busy. And they were like, no, like they just couldn’t, they didn’t have the heart to lie to me. Right. But my parents don’t tell their kids. Parents might get mad. Right. I was like, and kids might get brokenhearted. And I was like, Oh, okay. So don’t tell, don’t talk about problems at home. Don’t talk about Santa Ana being fake. Okay, cool. Got it. You know, so he went on through, so I grew up not knowing Santa, but still Christmas. Favorite holiday, still the joy and the vibes and the family time and everything. Awesome. It really, it actually made my life simpler because I didn’t have to write a list by a certain time. Didn’t have to make sure I was back then in the worldly sense. Didn’t have to make sure I was good. Like there wasn’t that pressure starting probably in November. You’re not thinking about it the rest of the day.

Michelle: I’m totally, it was out of control. And then it’s like November, cause it’s like, Oh my gosh. Like starting on like Thanksgiving. You’re like, wait a second. Yeah. Yeah. So like first it’s not gonna wreck Christmas to just be real about like, you’re not going to sabotage Christmas by taking out. I think the fakest part of it, how come Santa brings like my friend, Naomi, a PlayStation five, but me a little, whatever. Right? I don’t know toys like that yet.

Shea: My kids, my, my friends are getting like bomb toys. I was getting clothes that I needed for school.

Michelle: Right. So it’s like, so, so you already are like, okay, so there must be more to this rank system than naughty or nice. Right on top of that, bartering with your kids, making deals with your kids, it will get you results. But in the longterm you end up combating the results you actually get. Because like on a deeper level, it becomes extrinsic motivation. I sound really nerdy because I was a psych major and I’m pulling out the words, but it’s just one more reinforcement of what we’re hearing all the time that you have to have it all together. And it seems a lot like when people say I I’m not good enough to go to church yet I have to get better before I can go. I have to get better before I get that prep.

Shea: You know, I think that some people will sit here and say, Oh, but you know what? I’m taking something away. And, and, and I, and I don’t think that that’s no, I know that’s not what I’m telling you. There are so many things that you can bring into this time of year, because in reality, and this, I know the broken record is sitting there doing the doing it’s about Jesus. It’s about Jesus. It’s about Jesus. It’s about Jesus. Have you ever had record player would get stuck. So Jesus it’s about Jesus. It is, but it can be fun. It can be fun because on the day brought gifts. Right. And so like, it’s like we watch these shows or, or, or, or videos and stuff. Right. And we see like a drummer boy who brings his, his, his drum. You were bringing this up today is kind of cool. Now I’m using it, but whatever.

Michelle: It’s like, we’re going to see Jesus. Right. And then he gives what he has. And it’s the one thing that he loves. See, that’s the season, the season is about being together, coming together, gathering together, having a great focal point together. And you know, we took out Santa Claus and this is us. Yeah. No, I’m not, I’m not rolling. It. I’m just want you to think about it. But here’s, what’s cool that they have this little elf that used to hide around, you know, and don’t find the story. Can we say that? That’s what it is. Oh, okay, cool. But Alvin herself. Yeah. And like you hide it around house and, and you know, it was fun for the kids and they, they run around. Dude, Christians came out with shepherd on the search. There you go. And I’ll tell you what it is. Just as fun, a little sea runs out. And then she, and she knows that this little shepherd is looking for Jesus. And so she goes and looks for the shepherd and these little help come on. She’s only laying back, but let me tell you something, we never pointed a right to it. But when she finds it, she’s excited. She goes, Jesus. And she runs over to the nativities. She’s like, Jesus, I helped. It’s like, wow,

She’s learning to share Jesus. Wow. Like, Oh, I’m, I’m not going to cry. Y’all say I’m declaring that now. No. So in this season, Kaliyah learned to say, Jesus, she’s been saying Jesus like, like a lit, like whisper it, you know? But now like prayers and stuff, she would say, but like she says, Jesus, like for the first time, in the last two weeks, because of how dedicated a time it’s, we’ve made it about Christ. It shows us that like that needs to be our game plan all year. First of all. But what it has shown is just in these last few weeks, she is so excited about Jesus. Not just baby Jesus though. She loves baby Jesus. Cause we have a little soft nativity set that she plays with every day. But she is asking at night, I always say mama love. And then she’s like Baba. And I say, Baba love. And then normally she’ll be like mama, which is her grandma or pastor or, you know, but now after Bob, sometimes before Baba, she says, Jesus. And I say, Jesus love you most. And you can feel how happy she is. And she like all throughout the day, she wants to go visit over where little baby Jesus’s. I let her see the scene in the chosen where like Jesus spending time with the kids. So she sees like, no, this is big Jesus. Like, it’s not always baby Jesus. Like, and Ricky Bobby.

Shea: Eight minute tea party. And how I know it’s eight because I was like recording two minutes at a time for the grandparents. And, cause you know, anyways, but it’s like eight minutes of a tea party, Mary Joseph, the, the manager, she starts saying mash eyes. She goes, Oh, I was like mash. I, she was jive Thai, you know? And, and like just incorporating her into this story, this beautiful story. As a Christian, come on now, you’re hearing us right now. You are, it’s hidden. It’s hidden you. Yeah, because this is the story that we promote. This is the story that we want our kids to understand. This world is going to put so many requirements on our kids. It’s done it to us, man. I came to Christ late and I had to unbreak works, you know, Ephesians two, eight or nine. It says before by grace, you have been saved through faith.

This is not of your own doing it is the gift of God. Not a result of works so that no one can boast, no one, no one in the kingdom can boast about it. Being them. No one can sit there and say, I made it to this position because of me, they’re going to get to that position, fall on their knees and say, thank you Lord. And that is what I want to instill. I want her to understand that there’s grace. I wanted to understand that there’s mercy. I want her to understand that she doesn’t get to heaven by what she does, but the, she has a father who loves her and cares for her more than I ever could because this world is hard if 2020 didn’t prove it. And yeah, I’m bringing it up again. Y’all 2020 has been raw. Although in Christ, it’s actually been edifying for some of us, you know?

And if you’ve been in Christ, you understand what I’m saying? If you’ve been in devotions, if you’ve been in fellowship, if you’ve been in communication, if you’ve been on zoom calls, praise God for zoom, praise God for the internet and ways to reach out to friends, new friends, and to reach out and have this God. And you know what? I think one of the first zoom chats of the year was with a friend of ours, Leanne, we see kids, right? And she brought this eyeopening awareness to how we need to pour in to our children. The knowledge of the love that Jesus has for us.

Michelle: That’s such a root of this. And you know, sometimes when we, when as believers, one of us realizes something is actually detracting from the gospel. It’s not necessarily harmless. When we say something about it. There’s a lot of people who they want to cling to it because of the good memories, the favorable memories they have of that. And they’re like, well, why are you being a wet blanket? Or why are you being, why are you trying to suck the fun out of this? Whatever. I challenge that thought in myself as well, when that thought comes, I’m like, why don’t I think Christ is fun. Why don’t I, why do I think this is better than Christ? And that by focusing more on Jesus in this moment than this thing I’m giving up, is it going to be less? It should always be more with him.

And there are so many cool ways that believers have thought about incorporating him even more during this time, because you know, Christmas itself is a conversation for some people, but for those who are really using it as a time to worship and focus on Jesus, there are so many cool things you can do. I will put them in the show notes, some stuff that we’ve started incorporating, but just in the last few days, like Kaleah is just blossoming with her grasp of Jesus. Like today, we’re like, what’s your favorite, food? Or we said something about what’s your favorite? Yeah. We just ask her, what are your favorite things? And the third thing she said was Jesus. And I’m trying not to cry, although that’s authentic. I know, but it’s her, it’s her. Like, she came to that conclusion because of the joy.

Shea: Yeah. I love that. And you know what guys, this isn’t just about Santa Claus, this isn’t just about the things that we do during this time of year. It’s about where is our focus, right? Is Jesus fun? You know, I, I have seen my own thoughts actually, that Christianity felt like this wet blanket. Like you said, like if I do that, I got to stop having fun. Right? Yo it is so much more fun. Almost have fun, so much fun. No. I mean, look, have fun this year. And look, if you don’t believe I’ll even do this, I’m going to clip eight minutes of video together. I’ll send it to you because I’m going to show you how a little person, a little girl can light up about Jesus,

Michelle: Right? There were no elves or Santa there. It was a very easy and intuitive swap to insert fun, joyful truth for something that eventually you have to come clean and say, ain’t real. Right. You know, like that’s, that’s the difference is you never have to say Jesus, isn’t real sorry about all those great memories, but now they’re going to end because now you’re older now it’s like, no, like every year you can pursue him even more. And and that’s, and we’re just, we’re looking forward to building traditions in that because

Shea: So shepherd on this search.

Michelle: Yeah.

Shea: So it’s, it’s so cool.

Michelle: As you can get just as creative with I wary is what he’s doing. Like you can set up those little scenes, but, but yeah,

Shea: That’s, that’s what we’re here. We just want to share a little bit of us share, but, but really I think, um, with this season and with everything that goes on and, and you know, it is, it is a huge mental health month. Um, add COVID to that, you know, it’s, it’s probably look you’re worth it. You’re worth it. I just want people to know that you’re worth it. Um, God sees you way different than you see yourself. God sees you through the lens of his son. Um, especially if you’re a believer. If you’re not a believer, Hey, call us. Talk to us, reach out to us, man. We love to talk to you. But believers know, like Michelle said at the beginning, I’m covered by the blood. You know it about the blood being on the doorpost not hose inside. And that is the covering that we’ve received through Jesus Christ.

Um, Hey, thank you for being with us throughout this year. Um, we’ve got one next week and it’s going to be really cool. We’re going to just, it’s not this. If anyone listens, they actually got to know, but now stick with us, man. Stick with us. We really are just looking out for not just you, but us. We need this reinforced inside of us too. And look silent night. Holy night, all is calm. All is bright round Yon, Virgin mother and child. Holy infant. So tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.

Michelle: Merry Christmas. So you guys know what to do, share us as a gift to us and to someone else and have a Merry Merry Christmas. Bye.

Shea: Bye.