It's a Wonderful Life
By Eddie Keith
Senior Angel: A man down on Earth needs our help. Clarence: Splendid. Is he sick? Senior Angel: No, worse. He's discouraged.
Discouragement comes in all shapes and sizes. For George Bailey, he felt like “a young man who has to sit by and watch his friends go places because he's trapped." Trapped in a life he never wanted and one he felt he could not escape. Exasperated and worn down by the trouble he found himself in, George felt those around him would be better if he was never a part of his life. He cries out "Dear Father in Heaven, I'm not a praying man, but if you're up there and you can hear me, show me the way."
Is that not our cry at times? God please show me the way. I can’t see the way forward, but the past continues to weigh us down. For George, a joyful angel, Clarence, comes to open his eyes to the fact that “each man's life touches so many other lives. And when he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" Without George Bailey, the town of Bedford Falls was missing the glue that was holding it together and things quickly began to unfold.
We may not have a jolly old angel to show us that we really have had a wonderful life, but Scripture reveals to us that there will be hard times in the past, but they don’t have to define us. Peter writes that “in all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)
The peace of God, revealed to us in Christ Jesus, can give us a change in perspective this season. Times may be hard… Memories may hold us back. However, the trials of a time long gone only refine who we are today. Jesus Christ has come. James goes as far to say to “consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4). Our faith in a Savior that came of Christmas gives us peace over the past and a joy that is overflowing. The more we draw closer to him this season, the more we will see the joy that can be found in this life. This renewed perspective shows us that the trials of our past can serve to refine the genuine faith that is made alive in the Spirit this Christmas through Jesus Christ.
George Bailey finally comes to the realization that everything he needed was right in front of him and so he calls out to Clarence for help! “Get me back! Get me back, I don't care what happens to me! Get me back to my wife and kids! Help me Clarence, please! Please! I wanna live again. I wanna live again. Please, God, let me live again."
We have a chance to live again in our present because of a small child who came to save the world. To be refined in our thinking and perspective. Our trials and tribulations of the past are refining moments and no longer need to be defining moments. Let’s live in the peace of Jesus Christ and see that it is truly a wonderful life.
Senior Angel: A man down on Earth needs our help. Clarence: Splendid. Is he sick? Senior Angel: No, worse. He's discouraged.
Discouragement comes in all shapes and sizes. For George Bailey, he felt like “a young man who has to sit by and watch his friends go places because he's trapped." Trapped in a life he never wanted and one he felt he could not escape. Exasperated and worn down by the trouble he found himself in, George felt those around him would be better if he was never a part of his life. He cries out "Dear Father in Heaven, I'm not a praying man, but if you're up there and you can hear me, show me the way."
Is that not our cry at times? God please show me the way. I can’t see the way forward, but the past continues to weigh us down. For George, a joyful angel, Clarence, comes to open his eyes to the fact that “each man's life touches so many other lives. And when he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" Without George Bailey, the town of Bedford Falls was missing the glue that was holding it together and things quickly began to unfold.
We may not have a jolly old angel to show us that we really have had a wonderful life, but Scripture reveals to us that there will be hard times in the past, but they don’t have to define us. Peter writes that “in all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)
The peace of God, revealed to us in Christ Jesus, can give us a change in perspective this season. Times may be hard… Memories may hold us back. However, the trials of a time long gone only refine who we are today. Jesus Christ has come. James goes as far to say to “consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4). Our faith in a Savior that came of Christmas gives us peace over the past and a joy that is overflowing. The more we draw closer to him this season, the more we will see the joy that can be found in this life. This renewed perspective shows us that the trials of our past can serve to refine the genuine faith that is made alive in the Spirit this Christmas through Jesus Christ.
George Bailey finally comes to the realization that everything he needed was right in front of him and so he calls out to Clarence for help! “Get me back! Get me back, I don't care what happens to me! Get me back to my wife and kids! Help me Clarence, please! Please! I wanna live again. I wanna live again. Please, God, let me live again."
We have a chance to live again in our present because of a small child who came to save the world. To be refined in our thinking and perspective. Our trials and tribulations of the past are refining moments and no longer need to be defining moments. Let’s live in the peace of Jesus Christ and see that it is truly a wonderful life.
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