Santa Clause is Real --The True Story of St. Nicholas

Many Bible believing God loving parents struggle with the idea of allowing their children believe in Santa. After all He’s not real, right. Admittedly Christmas, Santa and giving have become way too commercialized. A once great tradition has become merely a gimmick for big business to increase their sales. While the giving spirit of the season has become drudgery, most of us are focused on receiving. Christians need not be offended or fearful of Santa, if you can grasp where he comes from, and the idea that He himself began in Christian tradition. He is real. At least He was a real man and the spirit of giving he gave us still remains centuries later.

His Proper name is Saint Nicholas of Myra. Nicholas was the child of wealthy parents. His tradition which has grown into Christmas as we know it began when he was a young boy growing up in of all places, the region which is now modern day Turkey. Nicholas's faith was shaped by his parents-committed Christians who showed their faith not just through their words but also through action. They gave to missionary work and helped feed the poor. They also took Nicholas to church services and enrolled him in theology and history classes. Young Christians were taught The Didache, an early guide to righteous living that asked believers to fully embrace the two greatest commandments: to love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22: 37-40). These lessons had a great impact on Nicholas. As a teen, he shared part of his allowance with the poor children who didn't have enough to eat. Yet the act which really set him apart began with a family friend's business failure.

A friend of Nicholas’s family had to move to the most poverty stricken area of their village when His business failed. In desperation he sought to sell one of his three daughters to the brothel owners to feed the rest of the family. When Nicholas heard about this even as a boy He was moved with compassion and grief. The night before the daughter was to be sold he went to their place and waited for the lights to go off, and then He threw a bag of gold through an open window and ran away undetected. The money lasted the family an entire year and when it ran out He returned and did the same thing. When He returned on His third yearly trip he was caught. The father was overcome with emotion when he saw that the person who had become his rescuer was just a boy. Wiping away tears, he hugged Nicholas and asked Why He had done this. The response was direct and simple" "Because you needed them" When asked why he had not made himself known His response was purely Scriptural and unselfish. “Because it's good to give when only God knows about it." Nicholas' answer would become the foundation for the unrewarded giving still celebrated each Christmas season. Nicholas was in his mid-teens when his mother and father died. The uncle he was named for, a priest, was placed in charge of the grieving boy. As the two prayed for understanding, Nicholas was a calling to live out the lessons taught in his own home. He felt the best way to memorialize his parents' ideals was to take his considerable inheritance, cash it into Roman coins, and give all he had to the poorest families in the region. Satisfied that his act honored his parents as well as his Lord, he then committed himself to study. He felt that if he learned more about God, he could live more like Christ. After being tutored by his uncle, he later attended school in a monastery. Nicholas probably entered the priesthood before reaching his twenties. The life of the once wealthy young man was now filled with trials. Under emperors Diocletian and Maximian, Christians were hunted and persecuted for ten long years. Those who would not abandon their faith were often tortured and executed. As a church leader, Nicholas was jailed. Receiving inspiration from the letters of Paul, Nicholas encouraged those outside the walls to pray, support the work, and look to the Lord for strength. After his release, Nicholas was elected bishop of Myra. He oversaw a period of rebuilding: feeding the poor, locating shelter for the homeless, and finding families for those orphaned during the decade long persecution. He spent a good portion of his day teaching and sharing food and clothing with the children from the poorest families. Because of the gentle way he expressed compassion and love and because he often was seen carrying a bag filled with candy and gifts...it's hardly surprising that whenever he ventured out in public, he always seemed to have scores of children clinging to his robes and following in his footsteps. Many religious leaders of the day used church funds to provide a lavish lifestyle for themselves, building great homes and purchasing the finest food and clothing; in contrast, Nicholas opted to give the money away. As he traveled through his district, he often dropped coins into the windows of the poorest people or in the shoes left on porches. Though his staff knew it was the bishop distributing these gifts, Nicholas did not allow the information to reach the public. Thus, when someone rushed up to him the news of finding a coin in their home, the bishop smiled and assured them that God had heard their prayers and answered their needs. Nicholas often inquired of local village officials where he could find those in greatest need. He traveled to the poorest areas, and without announcing his identity, gave away money, food, and clothing, then disappeared before the shocked recipients could identify him. Most had no idea he was a clergyman, and a legend grew that he was an angel dressed in red. Yet what ultimately made him a legend was his love of children. As he grew older, he used more and more of his funds to purchase gifts for children. Giving toys or candy to little ones, Nicholas told stories of Christ and the gift He had given through His death on the cross. Then, he would add, "Jesus loves little children, and He loves you." Through these gifts, many began to understand the full measure of their salvation. As a servant of God, Nicholas saw himself as shepherding a flock of needy and often lost sheep. He dedicated his life to being their voice in a world that seemed to care little for them. Nicholas became a legend of faith as he won battles for the poor, convincing the most powerful leaders of the day to show compassion and help meet their needs.

Nicholas's acts of service were so great that when he died, others picked up where he left off. Within just a few years, children all over Myra found gifts left in their shoes on his birthday. Over time, the legend of Nicholas of Myra grew: hundreds of churches were christened with his name. Yet this is pale in the light of what his compassionate life has come to mean to souls each Christmas.

Saint Nicholas didn't inspire the tradition of Santa Claus by chance; rather, it is a tribute to the spirit of this extraordinary man. Surely, as St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) looks down on us and his lessons of giving are still being taught, and that children everywhere are made to feel especially loved on the day celebrating Christ's birth. Nicholas spent his life giving, and that spirit of giving continues to this day. Ironically it was the Puritans, haters of anything catholic or anything secular, who brought the traditions of giving gifts on Christmas to America.


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