In general, I am not a fan of
Charles Dickens. Most of his works have bored me and, therefore, I did not
finish them. However, this is not the case with the Dickens stories written for
the Christmas season. “The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home” is a
fun little Christmas work. But the Dickens’ account which caught my soul early
on is “A Christmas Carol.”
The short story has been turned
into film and television renditions. I’ve watched most of them, enjoyed a few,
but each one deviates from the novel in some way. So, each year as December 25th
closes in, I pick up one of my copies of the novel and read it. There are only
five chapters (or staves), and the overall story is very brief. Normally, I
read one stave a day. Apart from some of the English vocabulary and terms used
by Dickens, it is an easy story to read.
SPOILERS AHEAD. If you have NOT read the story, I
suggest you do so first.
Yesterday I finished the opening
stave. That chapter ends with the visit of Marley’s Ghost appearing to Ebenezer
Scrooge. Scrooge reminds the ghost that he was a good man of business. The
ghost then replies with one of the many classic lines from Dickens.
“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!”
When I read that brief paragraph, it fits well to describe every
human walking this earth but especially on believers. Mankind is our business.
They need the Gospel and, apart from us sharing it with them, they will remain
lost. Yes, mankind is our business. We, as Christians, are to be about charity
and mercy and longsuffering and benevolence towards others. What we do for a
living, whatever our trade may be, we should perform that task spirit of the goal:
rescuing humanity. Opportunities to share the Gospel arise in every workplace.
Grab those opportunities and share Christ. Use some of your financial gain to
support your church and other ministry organizations for the glory of Christ.
Use the skills you developed in your trade to help others and, in so doing,
minister to them with charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence. In this
way, you may proclaim Christ to a lost soul.
From what I know of Dickens, he was likely not a true believer.
Also, there is no indication he wrote “A Christmas Carol” to glorify Christ.
However, quotes like the one above certainly have value for the reborn
Christian. Marley’s ghost is right. Mankind is our business.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”
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