"He has filled the hungry with good things; and sent away the rich empty-handed." (Luke 1:53)
This is a part of Mary's response to the news of, "the Coming One," Jesus. She realized that Jesus would be the One Who would, "fill[] the hungry with good things," and everyone who rejected Jesus, He, yes, even life itself would, "sen[d] away...empty-handed." Every Christmas Season we watch some of our favorite Christmas movies, "A Christmas Carol," among them. Ebenezer Scrooge is a classic example of a very rich man, viz., rich in money, yet who had been, "sent away...empty-handed."
I took particular note this year of a portion of the dialogue between Marley and Scrooge. At one point Marley says to Scrooge, "O blind man, blind man! not to know that ages of incessant labor by immortal creatures for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunities misused! Yet I was like this man; I once was like this man!" Scrooge replies, obviously seeing himself in Marley's statement, yet attempting to divert the "conviction," "But you were always a good man of business, Jacob." Marley replies, "Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"
If I can perhaps pray something this Christmas Season for you and me, it would be that we walk in what Jacob Marley did not see in this life. Be conscientious in business and life's endeavors, yes. O, but may we never be as Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge, who gave themselves to only what benefited them. May you and I have an "Ebenezer Scrooge" experience, a conviction received and a repentance walked in, a continual life of repentance, a life which lives, "Search me, O God, and know my heart," a life for others, for the poor, the objects of injustice and the selfishness of mankind, a life so lived that many may see, receive, and follow Jesus Christ.
I just may make, "Mankind is my business," my New Year's resolution.
Father, in Jesus' Name, Amen.
This is a part of Mary's response to the news of, "the Coming One," Jesus. She realized that Jesus would be the One Who would, "fill[] the hungry with good things," and everyone who rejected Jesus, He, yes, even life itself would, "sen[d] away...empty-handed." Every Christmas Season we watch some of our favorite Christmas movies, "A Christmas Carol," among them. Ebenezer Scrooge is a classic example of a very rich man, viz., rich in money, yet who had been, "sent away...empty-handed."
I took particular note this year of a portion of the dialogue between Marley and Scrooge. At one point Marley says to Scrooge, "O blind man, blind man! not to know that ages of incessant labor by immortal creatures for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunities misused! Yet I was like this man; I once was like this man!" Scrooge replies, obviously seeing himself in Marley's statement, yet attempting to divert the "conviction," "But you were always a good man of business, Jacob." Marley replies, "Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"
If I can perhaps pray something this Christmas Season for you and me, it would be that we walk in what Jacob Marley did not see in this life. Be conscientious in business and life's endeavors, yes. O, but may we never be as Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge, who gave themselves to only what benefited them. May you and I have an "Ebenezer Scrooge" experience, a conviction received and a repentance walked in, a continual life of repentance, a life which lives, "Search me, O God, and know my heart," a life for others, for the poor, the objects of injustice and the selfishness of mankind, a life so lived that many may see, receive, and follow Jesus Christ.
I just may make, "Mankind is my business," my New Year's resolution.
Father, in Jesus' Name, Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
