Naughty Or Nice

Santa Claus famously makes a list - and checks it twice - to find out who's naughty or nice. Jesus Christ also has a list, and, whether we have been naughty or nice, He wants all of us on it. Like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, He waits for us even while we are "yet a great way off", and runs to embrace us the moment we turn back to Him and repent. And Christ doesn't just check His list twice. He checks it from moment to moment. He is never annoyed to have to update us back to nice on His list, nor is He discouraged when we end up with naughty next to our name. He always has unconquerable hope and infinite patience that every time we fail, we will turn to Him once more. A lump of coal awaits those on Santa's naughty list, but for those on Christ's list, He offers the bread of life and living waters of repentance, a chance to change from naughty to nice, not just once a year at Christmas time but week after week. "Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:9-11). I know that however often we've been naughty, if we turn to Christ, He can help us become nice once more.