 And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noon day. Isaiah 58:10
Someone on the radio mentioned that the musical Scrooge best depicted the true meaning of the story.. of a man who was redeemed. It was a man who was so horribly selfish that he hated Christmas.. mostly because it required caring for others and giving.
When he finally understood what Christmas and Christ's birth was truly about.. and how horribly selfish and vile his soul really was--and why he was here on this earth--to make a difference, he was filled with new joy and life.. and that evidenced itself in giving to others in need.
A Christmas Carol (1951)
Ebenezer: Who are you?
Jacob Marley: Ask me who I was.
Ebenezer: All right, all right, who WERE you then?
Jacob Marley: In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.
Ebenezer: Well, in that case, CAN you sit down?
Jacob Marley: I can. Ebenezer: You see that toothpick?
Jacob Marley: I do.
Ebenezer: But you're not looking at it!
Jacob Marley: Yet I see it, notwithstanding.
Ebenezer: Well, then, I'll just swallow this and be tortured by a legion of hobgoblins, all of my own creation! It's all HUMBUG, I tell you, HUMBUG! Ebenezer: But it was only that you were an honest man of business!
Jacob Marley: BUSINESS? Mankind was my business! Their common welfare was my business! Ebenezer: What do you want with me?
Jacob Marley: Much. Jacob Marley: It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men! If it goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death! It is doomed to wander through the world! Oh, woe is me! And witness what it cannot share but MIGHT HAVE SHARED on Earth and turned to happiness! Jacob Marley: I wear the chain I forged in life! I made it link by link and yard by yard! I gartered it on of my own free will and by my own free will, I wore it! Jacob Marley: In life, my spirit never rose beyond the limits of our money-changing holes! Now I am doomed to wander without rest or peace, incessant torture and remorse!
Ebenezer: But it was only that you were a good man of business, Jacob!
Jacob Marley: BUSINESS? Mankind was my business! Their common welfare was my business! And it is at this time of the rolling year that I suffer most! Jacob Marley: Look to see me no more. But look here, that you may remember for your own sake what has passed between us!
Ebenezer: Why do they lament?
Jacob Marley: They seek to interfere for good in human matters, and have lost their power forever. Ebenezer: [as Marley lies on his death bed] Well, Jacob! Have they seen to you properly? Last rites and such?
[Marley nods]
Ebenezer: There's nothing i can do?
[Marley nods again]
Ebenezer: Oh? What, particularly?
Jacob Marley: [rasping] While... there's still time...
Ebenezer: Time? Time for what?
Jacob Marley: [rasping] Wrong... we were wrong.
Ebenezer: Wrong? Well, we can't be right all the time , can we? Nobody's perfect. You mustn't reproach yourself, Jacob. We've been no worse than the next man, or no better if it comes to that.
Jacob Marley: [rasping] Save... yourself.
Ebenezer: Save myself? Save myself from what?
[Marley breathes his last]
Ebenezer: Speak...!
[pauses as he realizes Marley is dead] Ebenezer: You have my sympathy.
Jacob Marley: Ah! You do not know the weight and length of strong chain you bear yourself! It was as full and as long as this seven Christmas eves ago and you have labored on it since. Ah, it is a ponderous chain!
In the end, he realized that truly 'mankind is our business'.. and that only here on earth can we relieve those in want or need. And the greatest proof that we have been 'redeemed' is when we find ourselves pouring out our very souls in our overflowing love for the Lord to bless and help others in need.
When the Lord makes you truly happy, as you seek Him, it's hard to keep it all to yourself. 
Joy is the inevitable result. Joy is what filled Scrooge as he began honoring the Lord on Christmas Day... and all the year through.
On this Christmas day, when we rack our brains as to how best to honor the Lord's birth, I so appreciated Isaiah 58.. which reminds me what kind of giving really honors Him and brings us closer to Him.
It's giving to others to meet their real needs.. food, clothes, comfort, freedom from spiritual bondage.. both physical and soul needs. Strangely, as we meet others deepest needs.. the Lord blesses us too.. and the depression you might suffer from.. will simply disappear.
Trying to get our needs met through others or through stuff, is hopeless. Even trying to get closer to the Lord through self-abasement is a fruitless endeavor.
To get close to the Lord and to truly honor Him...we need to pour out our souls, our energy, our possession, everything we have.. to help those He came to help and rescue.. the poor, the oppressed, the homeless, the hurting, the lonely and in giving.. we will receive.
"Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known Me?" John 14:9
Jesus said, "It is expedient for you that I go away" - in that relationship, so that He might lead them on. It is a joy to Jesus when a disciple takes time to step more intimately with Him. Fruit bearing is always mentioned as the manifestation of an intimate union with Jesus Christ (John 15:1-4).
When once we get intimate with Jesus we are never lonely, we never need sympathy, we can pour out all the time without being pathetic. The saint who is intimate with Jesus will never leave impressions of himself, but only the impression that Jesus is having unhindered way, because the last abyss of his nature has been satisfied by Jesus. The only impression left by such a life is that of the strong calm sanity that Our Lord gives to those who are intimate with Him.~Oswald Chambers
If you really love Jesus, and want to honor Him, or if you feel down and lonely, and want to be closer to Him... Feed his sheep.. spiritually, emotionally, physically.
We will be closest to the Lord and his heart, as we function as His hands and feet to a hurting world.
Then, like Scrooge, you will be full of joy! Truly it is in giving that we receive.
Dear Lord, May our readers experience the true joy of giving as they take all the blessings they have received from you.. and share them with others. even to the point of their daily necessities. Help them learn what you have taught me this year and are teaching me even more today, that giving truly is more glorious than receiving. And may their light 'shine' in the darkness.. and their dissatisfaction or gloom be dissipated as they shine with your glorious light in a darkened world. Amen
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