I'M NOT CLARENCE
Remember sitting at the kitchen table, pencil in hand, scribbling a letter to Santa? One youngster composed this epistle to St. Nick: “Dear Santa, three boys live in this house: Mark, Tim, and Clarence. Mark is good some of the time. Tim is good some of the time. Clarence is good ALL of the time… I am Clarence.”
We’d all like to pretend we’re Clarence— never messing up, our names perpetually gracing Santa’s good list. But deep inside we know we make the naughty list more often than we’d like to admit! I’m not Clarence. None of us are. Even Clarence isn’t “Clarence.”
Romans 3:10 states, “There is no one who always does what is right, no, not even one!” That’s why Jesus was born, lived a perfect life, then was crucified, assimilating the guilt of every human sin. Because we’re not “Clarence.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
One of the biggest burdens we drag through life is shame. The side-effects are disastrous—robbing us of joy, creating all sorts of sickness and depression. We embrace a myriad of methods to rid our hearts of this monster. We run through life at breakneck speed, afraid if we slow down, we must face our failures. We chase after addictions to numb our shame, whether drugs, sex, shopping or religion. Or we lie to ourselves, in an effort to convince everyone around us that we are “Clarence.”
It’s sad, because it’s so unnecessary. Jesus invites us to receive the forgiveness He offers. We can’t earn it, buy it, or work hard enough to obtain it. It’s God’s Christmas gift to humanity.
Thank God, Jesus is not Santa Claus. Remember as a kid, expelling superhuman effort during the month of December to make Santa’s good list? That’s a lot of pressure. Even for twenty-five days, I didn’t do so well. And the months of January through November? I don’t even wanna talk about it. What a burden is lifted when we realize, our human efforts don’t determine us avoiding God’s “naughty list.”
More than ever, this year, we need to remember that Jesus is our Savior. He came to lift us out of the darkness of this broken world, and set us free. Otherwise, we’re all in a heap of trouble. Jesus was born so that we don’t have to be “Clarence.”
Principle: Jesus sets us free from the sin and shame in our lives.
Ponder:
What memories of shame are crippling me in my life?
How can I be free from them?
Pursue: For a deeper dive, study Romans 6:15-23.
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, thank you for coming into our world and paying the price for my sin so I could be free. I embrace your forgiveness, and surrender my life to you.”
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