Have Your Future Thrown into Disarray with Jesus

December 24, 2024

Today, we find ourselves alongside Scrooge as he is visited by the last of the three spirits, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come…

The Phantom slowly, gravely, silently, approached. When it came near him, Scrooge bent down upon his knee; for in the very air through which this Spirit moved it seemed to scatter gloom and mystery. It was shrouded with a deep black garment, which concealed its head, its face, its form, and left nothing of it visible save one outstretched hand. But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded. He felt that it was tall and stately when it came beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved.

"Ghost of the Future!" Scrooge exclaimed, "I fear you more than any specter I

have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart.”

The Ghost of Christmas Future is the most ominous of the three ghosts to visit Scrooge. Scrooge tells him, "I fear you more than any specter I have seen." Wouldn't we say the same? For many of us, the future is a frightening thought. It is a ghost that haunts us, worries us. Uncertainty and fear hang like a cloud over the future.

Think for a moment about Mary and Joseph. Mary, visited by an angel and told she would give birth to a child, unmarried, no earthly father, that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would have a boy and would call him Jesus. Even though Mary accepted the angel's pronouncement with faith, I am sure there were many moments the thought of the future scared her. How would people treat her? How would Joseph, her betrothed, react? Would they be cast out of their village? Where would they end up? Would she be a good mother to this

child of God and what did it mean to be a mother to one who was divine?

And what about Joseph? I can only imagine what went through Joseph's head. I am sure he was also concerned about what the future held, how people would react, how would they treat him for taking Mary, a pregnant woman, as his wife. Where would they go? How would he raise this child that wasn't his? The angels said, "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." Would he be strong enough to raise such a child, to protect this child in the midst of a harsh and unforgiving world?

The future is a scary place, for all of us, and when you add Jesus to the mix, your future, like Mary and Joseph's, becomes even more uncertain. Now, don't misunderstand. When Jesus comes into your life, your eternal future is certain and is going to be incredible, absolutely amazing. But Jesus doesn't offer that same future security in this life. In fact, Jesus can take what seemed to be a very secure future and throw it into total disarray.

Suddenly Mary and Joseph's plans were shattered, the future uncertain. Less than nine months later they found themselves traveling to Bethlehem, pregnant, close to giving birth. Shortly after Jesus was born, they found themselves running from King Herod, running into Egypt, leaving their families, all that they knew behind. Throughout their lives, it would be God, it would be the Christ child, that would direct their steps. And one day, with women wailing, soldiers pushing, the Pharisees shouting, in the midst of great chaos, Mary would kneel and watch as her son was crucified.

The future is scary for all of us because it is uncertain; therefore, in an effort to make our future more certain, we try to control everything. We attempt to take control of our finances, our careers, our relationships, our health. We attempt to plan everything out.

This is the problem with Jesus. When we add Jesus to our lives, our secure futures are thrown into disarray because Jesus doesn't call us to take control. Jesus calls us to give up control. Jesus demands. Just as God demanded of Mary and Joseph, Jesus demands that we relinquish control in our lives. In Luke 16, Jesus Himself said, "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other." We cannot serve Jesus and ourselves. Jesus and I cannot be co-masters of my life.

It is scary to give up control…

• You have a plan as to what you are going to do with your life, yet Jesus is calling you to do something else.

• You were in complete control of your relationships, but now Jesus is challenging you to break off from those relationships that are unhealthy, reach out to those who you normally wouldn't give a second glance, to forgive even when you do not want to forgive.

• You were in complete control of your finances, but now Jesus is calling you to live with generosity.

• You believed that you were kind to your neighbors, but now Jesus expands the

definition of neighbor to include men and women devastated by an earthquake in Haiti, those persecuted for their faith in China, and the many impoverished children in Africa.

• You were comfortable in your political affiliation, but now Jesus is challenging you on whether or not your party's stance is in-line with His teachings.

• You were comfortable in your religious traditions, but now Jesus is challenging every tradition you hold sacred.

• Your goal was a nice, comfortable, suburban life, but Jesus is calling you to take risks, to step "out of the box," to have faith.

• You thought Christmas was just a holiday, but now you are discovering that Jesus came into this world not just to be your Savior, but to be your Lord, to be the one who makes the decisions in your life.

As Pastor Mike Edmisten writes, "If you feel like your future is certain and secure, then

you probably haven't fully submitted to Jesus. When you look at people in Scripture who were fully sold out to God, they lived in constant uncertainty."

When Ebenezer Scrooge met the Ghost of Christmas Future, he told the ghost, "I fear you more than any specter I have seen. But as I know your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to live to be another man from what I was, I am prepared to bear you company, and do it with a thankful heart."

A Christmas Carol shows us that once Scrooge opens his heart to the Spirit of Christmas, what Dickens would say was synonymous with the Spirit of the Christ Child, his life is forever changed. His life touches the lives, blesses the lives of many, many people. This "altered life" is a life of an uncertain future, but also a life that truly makes a difference as the Spirit of Christmas is able to work through Scrooge all year round.

Like Mary & Joseph, our futures may seem uncertain, even scary, but let us go into the future with faith, giving God control. The future may be uncertain but the fact that God will walk with us through it is not, and not only will He walk with us through it, but God will work through us, if we give Him control, to touch the lives of countless men, women, and children.

May the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come show us, like Scrooge, that we can change our futures today and that our futures can change countless lives for the good.

All we must do is surrender and let God have control.