A Wonderful Life!

“It’s A Wonderful Life”

As you might have thought by the title of my article, I am writing about a famous holiday movie… Well, not exactly. This is sort of a “let’s pretend for a minute” story using the fictional character George Bailey from the famous holiday classic in the scene where George tells Clarence (the Angel who’s trying to earn his wings...) that he feels things would have just been better “if he’d never have been born!” Then Clarence grants him the opportunity to see what life would have been like for everyone else if that had indeed been true. Here is where the “pretend part” comes in… imagine for a moment what the world be like today if Jesus had never been born? Really, think about that for a few moments and ponder that thought… What if God had decided to NOT give his only son to the world to die for our sins? There would be no Mary and Joseph in the manger, no three years of ministry with twelve disciples; no miracles; no resurrection of Lazarus; no upper room meal on Passover; no trial before Pilate; no crucifixion and suffering before a hostile mob; no death on the cross – and NO resurrection!

What would the world be like today if Jesus had never been born?

If one takes a historical look over the last two-thousand years – it would be difficult to find any major historical event or civilization that has not been affected by the Ministry of Jesus Christ. No single person that has ever lived has had a greater influence on the history of our world than Jesus. I shudder to even think of what the world would be like today if Jesus had not been born, and I am so thankful that he was. As the Angel Clarence in the movie tells George Bailey, “Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?” I can’t even begin to imagine how immense the hole in our world today would be, without Jesus.

We all, in our own way – touch so many lives around us - It is truly a wonderful life we live and have been freely given by the birth of baby Jesus so long ago. Have a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Dave Farmer