Demerits, the Elf on the Shelf, and the meaning of Christmas

A few days ago, I posted a picture of a demerit from my Bible College days. It got a ton of comments and took a bunch of us on a walk down memory lane. The comments were fascinating in showing the different places and perspectives that my contemporaries have gone since leaving our fundamentalist Bible College. In fact, if the demerits were aimed at helping us stay in the fold of fundamentalism, their track record is spotty, at best.

I did the dorm job, I just forgot to check off the box…

At the same time, since Thanksgiving I have seen a number of post about the Elf on the Shelf. If you are unfamiliar, the Elf on the Shelf is a recently published book (2005) that takes the whole “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” thing to a whole new level. The idea is that you put a small stuffed elf on a shelf or mantle in your house and tell the kids that he is watching for Santa. The elf reports back to Santa his findings and if you are good you get toys, etc. The idea, at first blush, seems innocent enough. After all, Santa already sees you when you are sleeping, whats a creepy little elf going to hurt.

Actually, maybe a lot.

Many Christian parents may gravitate towards the idea of the Elf on the Shelf because it seems like a good way to keep the kids in line. After all, it is tough to have kids behave. I know that more than anyone I know. If I am home alone with my kids, it usually sounds like this, “Guys, guys stop. Hey GUYS, Let’s not do that. Please don’t, seriously. Boys, what?” But when we use something like the Elf on the Shelf, we may be accidentally instilling the wrong ideas in our kids.

When we aim to fix our kids actions,we will miss their hearts.

That was the problem for me and demerits. I was really good at not doing anything that would get me written up. I could check off boxes with the best of them. The problem was that my heart was cold and angry. So all the nice and helpful things I was doing amounted to nothing more than a stench in the nostrils God. Just because we do the right thing, doesn’t mean that we are obeying God. Isaiah gives us a vivid picture of this:

Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
(Isaiah 1:13-14 ESV)

He is after something more. Christ is after our hearts. This is what Christmas is all about. Jesus gave up all the pleasures of heaven. He left the Father’s right hand and was born in the terrible conditions of a barn and trough. Did he do this because he knew we would do the right thing? No, while we were still enemies of God, he died for us. He pursued our hearts.

So perhaps instead of an Elf on the Shelf this year, maybe we can put a nativity there. And we can tell our kids that God is watching us. He knows if we have been bad or good. And even though we have been bad, gave us the gift of His Son anyway. What if we told our kids they would get presents no matter how naughty they were? What if we went after our kids hearts, not just their behavior.