We watched this yesterday–Scrooge, the 1951 retelling of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, starring Alistair Sim. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this. Dozens? At least forty, given that Patty and I watch it every Christmas. But it won’t matter if we see it forty times more: it has never failed to melt my heart, and never will.
Why? Because it’s about redemption! What could possibly be more important? And who doesn’t need it?
By the time we were halfway through the story yesterday, I was shaking my head: this was a man who had seriously made a hog’s ass of his life. He’d started out with real disadvantages–his mother died, his father never loved him–which he parleyed into enduring character flaws. If ever a man was bound for Hell, it was he.
And by the power of Jesus Christ, acting through Christmas… he’s saved.
Think about that. Saved! Think of the bad things that you’ve said and done in your life. Truly awful, isn’t it? Oh, what was I thinking!
But God’s sovereign grace, in Jesus Christ, has wiped them all away. They won’t count against us. They won’t even be mentioned.
That’s what this story is about. That’s why it never gets old.
If you haven’t seen it, or been a long time without it–well, it’s easy enough to find on line. Find an hour and a half to give to it. You’ll be abundantly repaid.