“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!”
Jacob Marley “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens
If you’ve never read “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, I highly suggest you move it to the top of your list for reading. It is a quick read and you will be better for it.
A Glimpse at His Own Failed Journey
The story reveals the miserly, Ebenezer Scrooge; a man so caught up in his own life that he quit caring for other souls. Scrooge, relentlessly rejects his fellow man and the needs of others. It takes an intercession by three spirits to show Ebenezer the true importance of life.
Ebenezer’s chance to escape a grim fate through the three spirits, is shared with him by his 7-year-deceased partner, Jacob Marley. Jacob meets Ebenezer on Christmas Eve to tell him about the visits of the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future.
In their dialogue, Jacob Marley challenges Ebenezer to believe and gives him a glimpse at his own failed journey through life as well as the pain and regret he carries. It is Jacob’s hope that Ebenezer can escape the path that he now suffers.
Man of the Worldly Mind
Jacob’s discourse has several points for each of us to consider. When Charles Dickens, wrote “A Christmas Carol,” it was his desire that he could write a story to make people think but still be light-hearted in its effort. After all, the discussion of death, dying and hell are heavy topics. I will try to maintain Dickens light-hearted approach, but Marley’s message is valid and painful, so please forgive me beforehand if things get serious.
- “Man of the worldly mind, do you believe in me or not?”
Life is a matter of faith. Faith is believing there is a world we cannot yet see and a God who came in the form of Jesus Christ to save us and give us a path to eternal life in heaven when this life is over. If we pay attention, there are testimonies of the unseen world and the truth of a living God who loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him. How much do we have to see before we believe?
Beyond This Mortal Life
- “It is required of every man, that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!”
While I have not yet walked the path beyond this mortal life, I don’t think we will walk on this earth forever after we are gone. I do believe there is a heaven and hell as described in the Bible, but Jacob’s point here is to care for our fellow man while we still have a chance. There is scripture to confirm this.
Isaiah 58:6-11 says:
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
I Wear the Chain I Forged in Life
- “I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it link by link and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.”
Free will is a tremendous gift from God but it comes with great responsibility. Do we casually walk through this life and ignore the life to come? Life exists beyond this mortal life. Each of us must carefully consider the life to come. When this life is over then our choices are confirmed and the benefits or consequences solidified.
- “Or would you know the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself?”
Do you know the weight of your own sin? Sin is ultimately what separates us from God. Jesus Christ came into the world to pay the price for our sin. God made it so simple. All we must do is believe that Jesus Christ is God and that He came into the world to save us and we will be saved.
It’s Mortal Life too Short
- “No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of remorse.”
I won’t hide the fact that Jacob Marley is a pretty dark character. After all, he lives in hell. How many preachers have used the threat of hell to coerce people to believe in heaven? The idea of the next life may be so scary and its implications so profound that we neglect to consider Marley’s regrets. Jacob is telling us that outside of heaven, there is no music, creating or creativity, no intimate relationships or any good thing. Outside of heaven, there will be no rest and no peace. Only the regret of wrong choices.
- “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.”
You are capable of doing so much good. There are not enough years to accomplish the good things you can do. God has prepared works beforehand for you to walk in. He wants you to do good things and He wants your efforts to last forever.
“I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” John 15:16
Don’t Let Time Get Away From You
- “Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunity misused.”
Each day that goes by is a day that can be used for good. If we neglect today and the opportunities it offers to do good to another, what regrets may we carry from our choice? Don’t let time get away from you.
- “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trader were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
Society needs this more than ever today. We have forgotten that we are all on the same side, the same journey. People are increasingly critical and hostile toward their fellow man. We need to relearn patience, kindness, mercy and helping others.
In Greater Need Than Ourselves
- “At this time of the year, I suffer most.”
Once again, we see Marley’s regrets. He goes on to say, “Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!” I don’t know about you, but I am guilty of this behavior. Let us remember there are others in greater need than ourselves.
A Glimpse of the Suffering World
- “How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day.”
How often has Jesus Christ or an angel been with us and we did not know it?
- “I am here tonight to warn you, that you have a chance and hope of escaping my fate.”
It is the same chance we all have; to make a choice for Jesus Christ. As long as it is still called “today”.
- Marley beckoned Scrooge to approach, which he did. He became aware of confused noises in the air; incoherent sounds of lamentation…
With Marley’s final gesture, Scrooge was allowed a glimpse of the suffering world. Ebenezer was allowed to witness the fatal regrets of souls who had gone before him.
May it not take so much for us to consider the heavenly world.
Resources
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
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