God Didn’t Leave the World—He Entrusted It
Why Christmas Still Matters
December has always been my favorite time of year.
Not because of tradition alone, and not even primarily because of nostalgia—though memory certainly plays its part—but because Christmas invites reflection in a way few other seasons do. People slow down. They remember. They become, if only briefly, open again to questions they usually rush past.
One of those questions was asked in 1897 by an eight-year-old girl named Virginia O’Hanlon. She wrote to a New York newspaper asking a simple question: Is Santa Claus real?
The editor’s response became the most reprinted newspaper editorial in history. Not because it defended flying reindeer or chimneys, but because it reframed the question entirely. Santa, the editor wrote, is as real as love, generosity, devotion, and imagination. You cannot see these things, but you know they exist—because without them, the world would be cold and empty.
That response has endured for more than a century because it touches something deeper than childhood belief. It points to the unseen realities that shape human life.
And that is where Christmas—and faith—intersect.
What Christmas Was Never About
We often assume Christmas exists to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Yet when we read Scripture carefully, something interesting emerges: the Bible never presents Jesus’ birth as a celebrated annual event.
- There is no command to observe it.
- No festival instituted around it.
- No instruction from Jesus or the apostles to commemorate the date.
That does not diminish the incarnation—it clarifies it.
The message of Christianity is not that Jesus was born, but how He lived, what He taught, and what He willingly gave. His birth matters because it begins the story—not because it is the destination.
The Gospel centers on His life, His message, and His sacrifice. The birth is part of the narrative, not the point of it. And when understood that way, Christmas takes on a deeper meaning.
Why Santa Endures
Santa Claus endures not because children are naïve, but because he represents something people want to believe is true.
The editorial response to Virginia did not argue that Santa exists as a physical being. It argued that Santa exists wherever love, generosity, and selfless giving are present.
That matters.
Because those same qualities are exactly what Scripture attributes to God Himself—and what God placed into humanity when He made us in His image.
Santa is not a rival to Christianity. He is a reflection of it.
Not magic—but meaning.
Not spectacle—but goodness.
Not power—but presence.
A World Designed for Responsibility, Not Constant Intervention
One of the central ideas I explore in my book is this: God did not design the world to require constant supernatural interruption in order to function.
If that were the case, the system itself would be flawed.
Instead, God created a world that could sustain itself—and humanity capable of carrying His character forward within it. His image was not placed in us as decoration, but as delegation.
That helps explain why miracles in Scripture are clustered around specific moments in redemptive history. They are not random displays of power. They are punctuation marks—not the sentence itself.
And it helps explain why many people today struggle with the question: Where is God now?
“You Will Do Greater Things”
Jesus once said something that has puzzled believers for centuries: “You will do greater things than these.”
This is often interpreted narrowly, limited to evangelism or church growth. But that reading misses the scale of what He was saying.
During His earthly life, Jesus healed the sick, restored the broken, and gave hope to those around Him. But He was physically present in one region, among a limited number of people, for a limited time. Now consider this: There are billions of people alive today.
- Each one bears the image of God.
- Each one is capable of compassion, creativity, courage, generosity, and sacrifice.
- Each one is a potential point of light in a dark place.
This is not an accident of biology. It is design. God’s image distributed across humanity creates billions of touchpoints—classrooms, hospitals, families, neighborhoods, quiet acts of kindness no one will ever see.
This is not the absence of God’s activity. It is the method of it.
Is God Active in the World Today?
When people ask where God is, they often assume His presence must appear as interruption—lightning from the sky, voices from clouds, problems instantly removed.
But Scripture paints a different picture.
God’s image inside humanity is not a backup plan. It is the plan.
- When someone feeds the hungry, God is active.
- When someone forgives instead of retaliates, God is active.
- When someone builds, teaches, heals, creates, or protects—God is active.
Not because He is distant, but because He chose to work through us.
Yes, Virginia, There Is a God
So if an eight-year-old were to ask today, “Is there a God?” the answer would not require philosophy or argument. It would be the same kind of answer given in 1897: Yes.
- He is as real as love.
- As real as kindness.
- As real as generosity.
- As real as sacrifice.
You cannot always see Him—but you can see what life looks like without Him. And you can see Him whenever His image in a human being rises above fear, selfishness, or despair and chooses something better.
That is the miracle.
That is Christmas. Not a celebration of a date—but a reminder of who we were made to be.