Last week, I published a blog letting the world know Jesus is not and will never be Santa.

This week, I’m here to remind you that you haven’t been commissioned by God to be an “Elf on a Shelf”.

For those of you who don’t understand the reference because you live in another country or you live under a rock, let me explain. Mr. Elf is a doll that parents use as a festive way to manipulate their children into obedience during the holiday season. His job is to watch the children and report back to Santa if they’ve been naughty or nice. Santa is outsourcing these days, but Mr. E doesn’t mind because he’s got a few antics and pranks going with the kiddos to keep life interesting.

Truth be told, I find it a little odd. Whatever. I get it. You’re making memories. Awesome.

We were not called to be some glorified “Elf on the Shelf” informants to Jesus where we go around putting peoples shortcomings on display and appointing them to the naughty (or dare we say “sinner”) list. Take your badge off, Sheriff, and get off your high horse.

Here’s the REAL issue for me. I hear a lot of Christians bashing on other Christians– it comes from BOTH camps. The conservatives and liberals flinging mud at one another with their theological stand points. Making sure everyone knows how WRONG the other person is. Sometimes they even call each other names and question whether or not the person is a Christian at all. To make matters worse its happening in public forums– on Facebook, in magazines and other media forums.

This business has got to stop. Firstly, it makes everyone (and I mean anyone who identifies as a Christian) look bad. And dumb. And ignorant. And mean. It looks a lot like friendly fire to me. Don’t we have enough problems as it is without having to worry about whether our brother and sisters are taking jabs at us?

Look, I’m not asking you to agree with these people. There are lots of Christians I don’t agree with, but like every family there’s some weird uncles out there. I am asking you, however, to love and respect them. Let’s take some wisdom from Colossians 3:14 where we are told to “… put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” If you read a few verses before you’ll see we are told to be compassionate and tolerant of one another. Even goes on to say when you have a complaint against someone to forgive it.

Not blast them on Facebook.

Let’s start putting a priority on relationships and unity instead of our positions and viewpoints. 

I know this isn’t a popular point of view. I even know the Scriptures people will use in rebuttal, but in a last ditch attempt let me leave you with this question: “What is your motivation for making a public display of your disapproval of a specific person, their actions, or opinions?”