Once again, that special friend has hi-jacked the holiday of Christmas for the opportunity to spill forth each and every glorious achievement made by themselves, their four children and the dog over the past year. Tales of records broken, goals attained, challenges overcome. And little Susie not only won first place this year, but broke her own record! 

Like we really care about little Susie's double-axle, triple-flip reversal. Or for that matter, to realize how wretched our life is, cowering in the shadow of such wonders of perfection and unparalleled achievement the world has rarely seen. 

Not only are we sucked into the cancer of comparison, but a huge, glossy mirror appears about eight inches from our nose, forcing the question...What's wrong with you? You really think you can keep up? Are you really being all you can be? What have you achieved this year?! 

The Christmas Update Letter makes it's final strike as the crowd gathers around your special friend with accolades and well-wishes, while you sink into isolated despair and self-condemnation for eating too many carbs this year, never getting around to writing that book and driving the car 4,500 miles over the 3,000-mile recommended oil change. 

This is the joy of the Christmas Update Letter. But who are we kidding? C'mon. Snap out of it! Do you think a double-axle, triple-flip reversal is all that important to anybody? There's more to this than you eating too many carbs.

Upon deconstructing the Christmas Update Letter, I think we might find that nagging, ever-present and unfortunate human trait called self-reliance. 

In our fallen nature, we strategically boast about those things in which we expect will impress others and build our stature and self-worth. (Perhaps we boast to convince ourselves we are living a life worth living.) We come to somehow believe circumstantial success means value and worth, another lie, of course, brought to you by western ideologies of consumerism and capitalism. And finally, we may even take such belief to a foundational level: to believe we are actually in control of our life.

Then life crashes. And the one who thought they were in control has nowhere to turn. This is the story not included in the Christmas Update Letter. The hardship, the sickness. The irreconcilable relationships. Not being able to find a job for the last three months.

Any sense of security, identity or worth brought about purely by the self is nothing but an illusion. 

There once was this magician who wrote lengthy Christmas Update Letters every year. He amazed all classes of people, and performed such great illusions some people thought he was actually divine. He went around proclaiming his greatness until one day a little competition came into town. The competition quickly out-did the magician. This competition actually healed people of their sicknesses! The magician's disappearing card trick now seemed a bit lacking.

Soon, everyone turned to the competition and believed in his power. Even the rejected magician came to believe and accepted his power. (See the whole story in Acts 8)

The funny thing is, Philip never once took credit for his power to heal and to proclaim the "good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ". Philip boasted wildly, not about himself, but about the One King from which all good comes.

There was a time when King David could write quite a robust Christmas Update Letter ("I took down a 13-ft soldier this year with three rocks!"). But later in his story and after several unfortunate incidents of self-reliance, the only thing David is boasting about is the Lord's faithfulness. 

The boast about one's accomplishments or circumstances often turn stale as such things are of a world dying away. While they may seem important at the time, in an eternal perspective, such trite occurrences have little to do with our value as humans made in the image of a sovereign God. 

Like David, in the adversities of life we are forced to seek a higher power, realizing we're an ant on a planet, and are grateful just for the breath in our lungs. We bow our heads at a glimpse of an immense and merciful God revealing himself if only for a moment from beyond the clouds of distress.

And so we boast Jesus. 

At the heart of this boast is the realization that in Christ Jesus we find our redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). That's something to boast about.

So boast away. And don't forget the winter sparkles.

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:30)