βTherefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.β 2 Corinthians 5:17
To the old identity, we say, βBah, Humbug!β To the new, we say, βGod has blessed us, everyone in Christ.β
Other than Jesus Christβs conception and birth as found in the Holy Bible, there is one other classic story associated with Christmastime. British author Charles Dickensβ 1843 book, A Christmas Carol, focuses on the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge (the novella has some Christian influence).
From the onset, Scrooge is a wealthy, miserable, mean, stingy, and selfish old man. His employee, Bob Cratchit, is underpaid (yet, strangely, Ebenezer observes, Cratchit is cheerful). Scrooge refuses to donate to charities collecting for the destituteβto him, Christmastime is a time for others to βpick his pocket.β He even refuses to attend his nephewβs Christmas party. What a miser!
Through visitations by four Spiritsβhis deceased business partner, Jacob Marley; and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas FutureβScrooge is forced to realize what a thoroughly rotten man he is. Once confronted with his future, the awful events that lie ahead, he asks for another chance to make things right (which, thankfully, he receives and does!). The Scrooge at the end of the book is drastically different from the Scrooge at the beginning. Scrooge is now loving, warm, cheerful, and generousβhe is a brand-new man.
Bible-believing Christians recognize parallels between Dickensβ work and the Holy Scriptures. The sinner starts off rotten, a rebel from birthβselfish, miserable, and mean. When he or she comes to realize that pitiful condition he or she is in, and comes by simple faith in Jesus Christβs finished crosswork as sufficient payment for their sins, God gives him or her a new identity (todayβs Scripture). That identity is designed to influence subsequent actions. Scrooge did not simply change his outward activity; he had a change in heart first. This Christmas, let us be submissive to Godβs Holy Spirit working in our hearts, as He uses sound Bible doctrine to manifest in our behavior our identity in Christ, that we be not Scrooges. source
