Have you watched the new Christmas musical called Spirited? It is a take on/continuation of the Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. In it’s premise, the question poses: is there anyone too far gone that they cannot be redeemed? Without spoiling any plot twists or endings, the plot unravels with the ghost of Christmas Present wholeheartedly arguing for and pursuing a man who is considered “Unredeemable” against all the objections of the rest of the afterlife spirits. The story of course is not a Christian story, however, the pursuit of the Christmas Present ghost for this unredeemable fellow is one that I could not stop thinking about as the pursuit of Christ on our lives, even the “unredeemable”.
I have been told my many people over my lifetime, “Oh, God would not want me in His Kingdom. I have done too much in my past.” People who discount themselves because of the things they have done. They have labeled themselves “Unredeemable.”
Then there are others who say, “I don’t need God, I am a good person. Afterall, I am not as bad as the murderers and child molesters rotting in jail. My good deeds and good heart will weigh out in the end.” Are they redeemable? Are they even eligible? What does it mean to be redeemed by God?
The truth is that none of us, the most sinful person you know or the sweetest person you know is eligible for God’s Kingdom without a saving belief in Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 64:6 says “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
But the good news is…as long as we are breathing, we are all redeemable!
The secret is…we have to want it.
God sent Jesus Christ at Christmas to do exactly that…come, save, and redeem us. Not only redeem us but ADOPT us into His family. Think of that! He knew that our nature, and the natures of all your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, will never be good enough or bad enough to get to heaven without a direct guide and escort to get there. He didn’t just come for the people in the past, He came for the people in the present and the people in the in future. He came and He knows how it feels, what we are tempted with, how we think, how we process things, how we strive, show off, cover up, deal, etc., etc. He came and He overcame.
Want to know how much and how far He will go to pursue you? Just skip ahead in the Bible, in any of the main gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, to read the lengths he went to redeem you! He not only came as a baby, but He over came when He endured His predicted gruesome death on the cross and rose again. Christmas is our celebration of Jesus coming to save, but it is in His death and resurrection that He actually saves.
Christmas should be a time where we all remember His pursuit of us! Just like Christmas Present—He, Jesus, pursues us TODAY so that we will be eligible to live with Him forever when our time on earth comes to an end. That is the best news to celebrate at Christmas time. And from that saving grace, we do want to do all the good things: give, help other, do what we are designed to do in this life, and give Him all the glory! Just as we see at the end of the Christmas Carol Story. It is through the miracle of our redemption that we have the good in our hearts to do good for others.
Beloved, the enemy wants us all to feel too unredeemable for God. Or to fake us out and make us feel like we are already good enough for heaven without a need for Jesus. But none of it is true. He is pursuing you, you just have to let Him “catch” you and make you His.
If you have not taken the step to invited Jesus to be your guide in life and escort to heaven, then what better time than this? He literally came to redeem you!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17