Our culture tells us that Jolly ole St. Nicholas is keeping a list, and he’s checking it twice. He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice. So the gifts under our tree at Christmas are a direct result of how good or bad we’ve been throughout the year.

Is that how our faith works?

Did God give the great gift of Christ to the world because we were good? Because we deserved Him?

No.

The Christian faith tells us that a very good God sent the gift of his Son to a broken humanity, to a hopeless people who have fallen short of His glory. We don’t deserve the gift of Jesus, but God gave this gift because of His overwhelming love for us.

Likewise, the gifts under our tree for our kids must not be attached to their behavior. Unlike Santa Clause, our gifts must not have strings attached. They should be a result of our love, not a manipulative ploy to garner a good performance from our kids.

Joining Catherine as a co-host for this vital conversation about what our culture gets wrong about Christmas is Bethany Kimsey, a mother of 8 and host of The Warrior Mama Podcast, a show that is devoted to applying the Gospel to the daily details of parenting our children. Together, Bethany and Catherine tackle one of the greatest cultural lies about Christmas—the lie that your Christmas gifts are attached to your goodness.

Bethany's bio: As a mother to 8 children, Bethany Kimsey has seen God radically change her messy motherhood from weary, anxious, and frantic to peaceful, joyful, and triumphant. She helps weary mothers win the battle against worry and fatigue as they understand their identity in Christ and rest in the hope of the Gospel in community with other moms. As a writer, speaker, and encourager of mothers, she wants to see a generation of moms who can connect their motherhood to the love of Jesus in real and practical ways so that they can be confident.

Bethany recently authored A Warrior Mama’s Prayer Journal to help mothers pray intentionally over their children and anchor in gospel truths. This can be purchased at www.Bethanykimsey.co.

She would love to connect at her website bethanykimsey.com or her Warrior Mama podcast https://whengodbreaksthrough.libsyn.com found on your favorite podcast platform. You can connect with Bethany on Instagram or Facebook as well.

EPISODE LINKS:

Bethany’s website: https://bethanykimsey.com/

The Warrior Mama Podcast

Collaborated episode: The Hope of Christmas and Ways to Walk It Well w/ Catherine Segars

PODCASTS & RESOURCES REFERENCED:

Episode 4: Is Christianity Just a Religion of Do’s and Don’ts

The St. Nicholas Center

Song facts about “Santa Claus is Coming To Town”

Matthew 22:37

Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.