Tiny Tim has the most memorable line in the whole book, a line that Dickens repeats at the very end: “God bless us, everyone.” Yet it is clear from the story that Dickens believes that God’s blessings come through the kindness and generosity of other people. As we’ve talked about already, this tale is more of a morality play than a picture of the gospel, but in one sense, Dickens does get this right. God desires to bless the nations. That is the promise made to Abraham that Jesus fulfills. And he uses his people in many ways to do this.
Ultimately, of course, the blessing comes through Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. That is the meaning of Christmas: God intervening in the lives of men, through Jesus, according to his promise, for the purpose of blessing the nations. But since Jesus’ ascension, God has used his church to share the good news of the blessing. We are the body of Christ, a world-wide incarnation, through the power of the Holy Spirit, which God uses to continue to bless the nations.
So while we may pray, like Tiny Tim, “God bless us, everyone,” we must also be willing to make ourselves available to be used by God in the lives of other people. For why would God bless us if not to use us to bless others? If we don’t recognize that the focus of our lives is to be aimed at others, we haven’t understood Christmas.
So, let us indeed pray with Tiny Tim, “God bless us, everyone.” And then let us use those blessings to be his hands and feet—like Scrooge—to bless others for God’s glory.
Lingering Over Leaves 