Every Christmas, a local Christian radio station in my area likes to do Christmas giveaways called their “Christmas Blessing.” Throughout December, the show invites listeners to nominate an inspiring family facing illness, loss or financial challenges to receive a big giveaway donated by program sponsors.
In one story, Wendy’s husband lost his job due to a health crisis. She now has to work full time, do all the lawn care and snow shoveling (this is Minnesota) and care for her ailing husband. She was given free lawn care and snow removal for a year, along with a meal delivery subscription. She was so touched, she cried. And, I’m not ashamed to admit, so did I.
Another story featured Chelsea, a mom of four young boys holding down the fort while her husband is deployed. She was gifted a weekend at a big water park hotel. That one seemed like a miss because, if I was a mom flying solo, a weekend chasing four wet, squirrelly boys around a waterpark by myself sounds like a nightmare. I’d want a break from the kids and ask if I could go alone. But she seemed happy enough.
Anyway, most of the stories are poignant and it is a nice way to spread Christmas cheer and encourage families in difficult situations.
The “Christmas Blessing” series reminds me of that show “Extreme Home Makeover” in the way the recipients are chosen for being both inspirationally good and in dire straits. There is always a mom whose husband is deployed who works two jobs, cares for the neighbor kids and drives a broken down mini van to the soup kitchen where she also volunteers. Or a family living in a one bedroom house with three disabled children being cared for by their grandmother who also delivers meals on wheels but her refrigerator and stove barely work. Or the blue-collar dad caring for his dying wife who also mentors drug addicts, takes in foster kids, just lost his job and his furnace broke. I am exaggerating, but not by much.
The stories attached to the giveaways are sensational and heart wrenching for a reason.
The setup ensures the audience concludes that this wonderful person deserves the big blessing. We eat this stuff up as a culture. We affirm blessing families in need … all the better when they are good people. And the show gets to play the beneficent hero. So we like them, too. Everyone wins.
I used to wonder if these shows would ever pick a normal family to receive a vacation or a home makeover. One with a suburban mom working part time in retail and a dad who is a middle manager in a nondescript business. They drive mid range vehicles and spend too much on takeout and activities, leaving barely enough to cover the mortgage some months. The parents are good, but not perfect. Maybe they yell at the kids from time to time or allow too much screen time so they can have a moment’s peace. The kids are nice, play sports and get decent grades. And everyone is relatively healthy and happy.
The obvious answer is no. No show would feature average families living average lives making average mistakes receiving an extravagant giveaway. It isn’t inspirational to us unless it is a really good, deserving person receiving the blessing. Because what is tacitly understood is that the reciprocal is also true. People who are not good, or even not good enough, do not deserve extravagant rewards and can figure out their own problems.
It is striking how these dynamics highlight our human tendency to play God.
This innate pull to judge if someone is good enough to get a big giveaway seems benign. But we have to remember that the original sin wasn’t about eating a piece of fruit. It was a desire to be like God in knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:1-7). Rather than obeying and resting in His care, humans wanted to be self determined. But autonomy wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Because we continually learn the hard way that being our own moral compass invites all manner of problems into our lives and this pseudo-freedom comes with a cost: shame, broken relationships, sin and hopelessness. And what is worse, this original sin broke our fellowship with God and pushed us away from Him. So our human attempts to judge whether another is worthy of receiving a blessing or not is not as benign as we may think.
To be clear, I don’t begrudge a nice family getting a new furnace or a weekend getaway or even a home makeover. I just wonder what it would be like for a Christian station to do a giveaway show that rejects the human desire to play God and actually operates like God does.
In this show, the producers would walk up to an average Joe and offer them the big giveaway. Maybe he is a middle manager who just snuck outside for a smoke break. Maybe she is stepping out of a nail salon into her Tesla. Maybe the kids are mid group-text. Maybe they aren’t even good people. Maybe he cheats on his taxes and has never volunteered a day in his life. Maybe, despite having plenty of money, she stiffed the poor nail tech, the Tesla belongs to her married fling and she left an unfair review for the salon on Yelp. Maybe the kids are entitled, mean and spreading gossip about an innocent peer. But they still get offered the big gift. So would you. So would I. No matter how good or how average or how bad someone is, anyone could get the Christmas Blessing.
Who would watch that show? Well, maybe we would. Maybe we would see ourselves in these stories. Our average lives. Our mistakes. Our hope that we can keep the Christmas Blessing we secretly think we don’t deserve. Because we don’t.
But God doesn’t operate according to our human understanding of who deserves blessings.
Here is the real Christmas blessing: Jesus came to earth to save all of us and restore our relationship with God. He offers us forgiveness for our sins and failures. He promises hope for eternity and hope for now. We do not have to be good enough to deserve His grace. None of us deserve it. We don’t have to earn it. We can come as we are and access His goodness. He offers His grace to us and, if we receive it, our hearts become transformed. His goodness changes us from the inside out. This is the gift.
We often forget that trusting Jesus is not just about going to Heaven, although that is an incredible gift. Trusting Jesus it is also about how we can live now and experience inner freedom that isn’t linked to circumstance or effort. If we walk with Jesus, He changes our hearts, our minds and our relationships.
It is why we sing songs that remind us how, when Christ came, the weary world full of sin and error rejoiced and the human soul felt its worth. It is why we sing of peace on earth and goodwill towards men. It is why this infant was so special and so holy. The hope of all mankind rested in His love for us. His deep, profound, healing and hope-filled love.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
This is the crazy, upside down message of Christmas. The Creator of the universe stepped into our broken world and offered us a gift we don’t deserve. And in Him we find perfect goodness. Freedom. Hope. Joy. Peace. Mercy. Forgiveness. Compassion. Love.
There is no Christmas blessing better than that.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17
