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 Dickens writes: “Oh, but he was a tight-fisted
hand. Hard and sharp as flint. No wind that blew was bitterer than
he….Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain,
and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him
in only one respect. They often came down handsomely, and Scrooge
never did.”
Scrooge was despicable.
Yet, this cold, unfeeling, tight-fisted money-grubbing man goes
through a complete transformation by the end of the story.
Is it possible for a person to really change that dramatically? If
you are a Scrooge, must you always be a Scrooge? Is Charles
Dickens’s story a fantasy? Or can it be reality?
Change is very difficult. All of us have habits and ways of thinking
that have become embedded in our lives. We need to remember that
when we ask someone to become a devoted follower of Jesus, we are
asking them to make major change in their life, and that is not
easy.
But even though change is hard, change is why Jesus came. 2
Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
- Jesus came in a manger to change us, to make us different people.
- The reason we have the Bible is not just to increase our
knowledge, but to change our lives.
- The purpose of fellowship and the church is not just for
enjoyment, but to change us.
So, can a tightwad become generous? Can a grouch become joyful? Can
the surly become sweet?
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Right here is one of the big challenges facing
American Christianity. People want to go to heaven (“saved”,) but do
not want to change. We are ok with faith, but not ok with
repentance. Faith is believing — and many believe. Repentance is
changing — but not many want to change. We say “Yes, Lord, save me,
but please don’t change me.”
One of the messages of Christmas is “Repent.” Just as the three
spirits came to Scrooge to change him, so Jesus came to the earth to
change us. We can talk about the “true meaning of Xmas”, but if
doesn’t change us, it doesn’t mean a thing.
May we all have a life-changing Christmas.
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