Book Reviews – Page 14 – Witkowski Blog

self the elf 2 For many, Christmas is “the most wonderful time of the year.” You got the kids jingle-belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer, and the parents manipulating, and everyone telling you Santa is near! “Wait…that’s not the way the song goes,” you say. And you’re right. It’s not the way the song goes. But it is often the way our American culture goes.

While Christmas can be the most sentimental time of the year, is not always the most wonderful. After a few days (or maybe just a few hours), our kids start to go crazy. And, Mom and Dad? Well they, “can hardly wait for school to start again!” But until that day arrives, they have to cope with their kids as best they can. So, us parents start appealing to the Big man up North. As the song says, “You better watch out…Santa Clause is coming to town!” “Junior, you do that one more time, and I’ll tell Santa not to bring you any presents.” Oh, the holiday manipulation! But wait…it gets better!

In an effort to make those threats all the more real, Santa was incarnated. Ok not quite. But his magical little, scout elf started appearing all over America back in 2005. Thanks to The Elf on the Shelf series, Santa is no longer just something our kids sing about. All December long, Little Susie and Sally now have a direct line to the Santa. They get to interact with Santa’s tiny mediator. And the elf promises, “A push or a shove I’ll report to ‘” The Boss,”’ but a small acts of kindness will not be a loss.” Finally, our kids can understand how Santa “knows if you have been bad or good.”

Not too surprisingly, this wonderful, new, little tradition prompts, “children to better control themselves.” (Admittedly, the authors of The Elf on the Shelf reportedly didn’t see that one coming; but hey, it works so why fix it!). Remember kids, “the scout Elf is watching!”

So what’s the big deal? Don’t we want our kids to exercise self-control? The answer is most decidedly yes! We want our kids to behave well. And no, The Elf on the Shelf is not the worst Christmas tradition ever. (Watch “Fred Clause” sometime. Any hoo…moving on…)

But, Christmas is about the free gift of eternal life. Jesus didn’t arrive so that good little boys and girls could work their way to heaven. He didn’t come to save the self-righteous. He came to save the lost, the down trodden, and the sinners. When we make Christmas about works and manipulation, we distort Christ; we distort the whole point of Christmas. We should give our kids gifts because we love them. They don’t deserve them. At least, I never did as a kid.

“Really?” you say; “C’mon Peter, one little Christmas tradition is not going to hurt our kids.” And if you mean that decorating with a elf and reading a new story is harmless, I essentially agree with you. But if we go a step further and use the elf to control our kids’ heart at home, we are walking on thine ice.

Let’s take look.

Instead of Junior obeying us to honor God, he obeys out of selfishness. I.e. he acts on the thought, “If I do what my parents say, I get more gifts.” His heart hasn’t changed. The selfish spirit that caused him to color self the elf your living room wall with a permanent marker has just been rechanneled. He obeys you this time not because he’s sorry. He fears the elf. He realizes that he gets more presents when he doesn’t color the wall than when he does. In short, he has simply found a more convenient way to express his selfish impulses. Instead of getting closer to Jesus at Christmas, instead of realizing his need for the free gift of salvation that he could never earn, he drifts off into the world of self-righteous confidence. According to his adopted elf friend, he’s good enough for Santa. Junior might be tempted to rest in that praise.

And at the end of the day, the best news for us parents is this: God is own our side. The God of the universe who created Saint Nicholas commands children to, “obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Friends, Santa’s not watching our kids but God is! (He also will be judging them. – I Peter 4:5) Our authority and our power comes from Him. And, we discipline not to keep our kids from embarrassing us, from stressing us out, or from ruining Christmas. We discipline to show our kids the despair of their sin and the hope of Christ. True obedience can only be achieved through Christ. Why should we exchange the beautiful charge of God for an imaginary guy who lives with little people and drinks hot chocolate all year long?

This Christmas let’s keep our focus on the message of the nativity, the good news that salvation has come. God is with us. I think it’s time to shelve the elf!

Are you ready?

The Biggest Story

Beginning with Adam and Eve in the Garden, DeYoung recounts the story of fall. He then

touches on Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. Describing how each man failed to ultimately crush the snake. Though they led well at times, they and God’s people were always overcome by sin and never returned to the garden. DeYoung clearly shows his readers that they – as the people before them – can’t make way their back to God on their own. But thankfully, humanity is not left alone. Christ arrives on the scene as the perfect deliverer, judge, and conqueror. He crushes the snake’s head and leads his people back to the Garden via the cross. As DeYoung writes:

Our story is the story of God doing what we can’t, in order to make up for us doing what we shouldn’t. Christ suffers for our sin, that we might share in his sinlessness.

And so deliverers are born to die. Things fall apart so they can come together. God kicks his own people out of Paradise and then does whatever it takes to bring them back – p.107.

DeYoung then focuses on how the Holy Spirit empowers believers to interject elements of the garden into today’s world through godly living. Lastly, he extols his audience to eagerly anticipate the wonderful day on which Jesus will return, ushering all of his people into paradise.

Strength And Weakness

website ready book the big picture interactive storybook bible

Admittedly, DeYoung’s book is not as thorough as the Big Picture Interactive Bible Storybook. Joseph gets a sentence, Hosea is never mentioned, and Jesus’ earthly ministry is reduce down to one page. If you are looking for an in-depth kids’ Bible study that covers all 66 books in detail, you will need to look elsewhere. Checkout the afore mentioned Big Picture Bible or grab a copy of Long Story Short and Old Story New by Marty Machowski. And readers shouldn’t be too surprised by this reality, given the books purpose.

The Biggest Story is not meant to be commentary; it’s designed as an overview of the scriptures. The book could almost be said to be the kids’ version of The Message of the Old Testament and The Message Of the New Testament by Mark Dever. Both adults and kids benefit from both in-depth studies and overviews of the Bible. We shouldn’t lose the tree for the forest nor the forest for the trees. As a helicopter soaring over the forest of scriptural narrative, The Biggest Story delivers.

Conclusion

Using only 10 chapters and 129 pages, DeYoung has captured the heart of the gospel message by exploring the themes of sin, repentance, and restoration as found the biblical narratives (A phenomenal accomplishment, especially for a preacher!). The book can easily by read in under an hour. I would encourage parents with preschoolers and gradeschoolers (and/or those looking to understand the grand scheme of the Bible) to purchase a copy of this delightful book. There are few better resources.