Advent: Are We Adding to What God Requires?

Dear First name / friend,

“For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast . . . ”

- Ephesians 2:8–9 -

The original title of this email, which our team edited, was “legalism at Christmas.” You might be wondering—how does someone get legalistic at Christmas? What does that look like? I’m here to answer that question and, I hope, bring some freedom to your Advent season!

Legalism is a word for a heart bent toward works-based religion. But legalism is sneaky; it’s not just about extreme modesty or fights about Bible versions. Almost all Christians fall into the legalism trap in one way or another. At Christmas, it looks a lot like doing things for Jesus (or for our families in the name of Jesus) that Jesus didn’t ask for.

Legalism makes us believe we are only as good as our performance. God, an angry Father, is waiting for us to fail, almost hoping to correct us. If we don’t do all the Christmas things right, don’t please the right people, don’t present the perfect Christian façade, we’re not only embarrassed in the eyes of fellow humans, we’re failing God Himself. What a joyless way to live the season of joy!

Christmas is, to me, the very heart of Jesus. Here we remember His birth as a weak baby, unable to produce important things. Not only was He a baby, He was a poor baby. He could offer nothing of pomp and circumstance to the world. Yet at His first advent, the angels sang, people worshiped, and the world paused for a moment to celebrate the presence of our newborn King. God was not angry that His Son couldn’t do anything yet. He delighted in His obedience, which at that time looked like complete un-productivity.

What if obedience in your Advent season is less productive and more present? Mine certainly is. Take today for instance. My children fought in the middle of our Advent reading. During our art lesson, a lesson themed around the Chronicles of Narnia—so fun, right?—I spent over an hour disciplining one of my children to release perfectionism and anger. I planned to write this email while walking on the treadmill but was thwarted twice by a baby waking early from her nap. Our reward for finishing school was supposed to be a new Hallmark movie I found, but we couldn’t do it because of how the morning went.

I can look at this as a failure. I can see it as ruined plans. Or . . . I can see this as God’s kind of “productivity.” Discipleship. Submission. Humility. Patience. Love.

God’s kind of Christmas doesn’t look the way our culture says it should. Our culture is strung out on sleigh bells and expensive presents. God’s way is a “silent night,” a series of interruptions. I must ask myself: Am I adding to what God requires of my Advent? Is my disappointment a product of God’s failure, or my own misplaced expectations . . . my own golden calves?

There is a way up, a way out, a way into the heart of God when we release our idols and lay down our expectations. Christmas was dark, messy, and difficult that first night. Sometimes it’s still that way. We can still worship.