A Christmas Carol Devotional

ZONDERVAN A Christmas Carol Devotional © 2026 Rachel Dodge Published by Zondervan, 3950 Sparks Drive SE, Suite 101, Grand Rapids, MI 49546, USA. Zondervan is a registered trademark of The Zondervan Corporation, L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc. Requests for information should be addressed to customercare@harpercollins.com. ISBN 978-0-310-46805-9 (audiobook) ISBN 978-0-310-46804-2 (ePub) ISBN 978-0-310-46803-5 (HC) Many quotations in this book are from the original version of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. It was first published as a novella in London in 1843 by Chapman & Hall and is in the public domain. Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—­electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—­except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Published in association with Books & Such Literary Management, www.booksandsuch.com. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.® Scripture quotations marked esv are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked nkjv are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked nlt are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Without limiting the exclusive rights of any author, contributor, or the publisher of this publication, any unauthorized use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies is expressly prohibited. HarperCollins also exercise their rights under Article 4(3) of the Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790 and expressly reserve this publication from the text and data mining exception. HarperCollins Publishers, Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper, Dublin 1, D01 C9W8, Ireland (https://www.harpercollins.com) Art direction: Tiffany Forrester Cover design and illustrations: Claire Wilson Interior design: Kristy Edwards Printed in Malaysia 26 27 28 29 30 OFF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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STAVE ONE

Marley’s Ghost

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Day 1

Saving Scrooge For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10

Marley was dead: to begin with.

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harles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol doesn’t open with Scrooge in his counting house, Bob Cratchit hunched over his work, or Fred begging his uncle Scrooge to come for Christmas. It begins with the words “Marley was dead: to begin with.” Dickens goes on for several paragraphs, driving home his point: Scrooge’s business partner, Marley, is dead and gone. Though the sign above their warehouse door still reads “Scrooge and Marley,” Marley is no more. He isn’t sick, he isn’t traveling, he isn’t even just mostly dead. He’s dead—­“ dead as a door-­nail.” 2

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As tempting as it is to skip over these details and jump ahead to the Victorian Christmas scenes we love so well, it’s important to take in what Dickens is telling us: If Marley isn’t dead, then “nothing wonderful can come of the story.” If Marley isn’t dead, the rest of the story isn’t possible. If Marley isn’t dead, nothing wonderful can happen to Scrooge. You see, this story isn’t about Marley. It’s about Ebenezer Scrooge—­a man described as a “tight-­fisted hand at the grindstone” and “a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” A man as “hard and sharp as flint,” who lives his life as “secret, and self-­contained, and solitary as an oyster.” A man “no warmth could warm, no wintry weather [could] chill.” A man so miserable he doesn’t even know it. Marley is as “dead as a door-­nail,” but Scrooge may as well be. He is a man in dire need of rescue, of saving. He is lost and he needs to be found. And thus far, nothing has had the power to penetrate his cold, hard exterior. No person. No human need. Not his employee, his nephew, or the people on the street. Not even the weather. On Christmas Eve, something wonderful is going to happen to Scrooge. The one thing that will finally capture Scrooge’s miserly attention is a visit from his dead 4

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business associate. It will take Marley’s dreadful ghost, his horrid predictions of the future, and three fearsome and ghostly visitations to get through to Scrooge. It will take something impossible, something supernatural, something wonderful to pierce his heart. On the night before Christmas, Scrooge’s whole life is going to change. And what an incredible picture of God’s glorious rescue plan for us. On the night when Jesus was born, God did something impossible, something supernatural—­ something wonderful: He sent His Son on a mission to save us. On that holy night, all of eternity shifted—­our eternity shifted. On that sacred night, in a lowly manger in Bethlehem, “the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared” (Titus 3:4). And our world was forever changed. On Christmas, Jesus came on a rescue mission. He came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He came to seek and save you. Apart from Christ, we’re dead as doornails, hard and sharp as flint, solitary as oysters. Without Him, we are dead in our transgressions and sins (Ephesians 2:1). But because Jesus came, we have eternal life. Because Jesus was born, because He lived, because He died and rose again, our sins are forgiven. Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Not because of the stockings or the candy or the 5

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ornaments. But because of what God did for us in the sending of His Son. On Christmas, we celebrate the arrival, or advent, of Jesus Christ—­the moment God took on flesh and came to Earth to save us. On Christmas, we celebrate the day God set our salvation story in motion.

Prepare Him Room Like Scrooge, we’re all in need of saving—­we all need Jesus to rescue us. As you ponder the meaning of Christ’s birth, think about all Jesus did to get your attention. Remember all He did to find you. Think about the circumstances, the people, and the events that led you to Him. And thank Him for coming into your life to save you. If you long to see God do something wonderful in your heart this Christmas, take time over the next few days to read through Luke 1–2. As you read, consider once again the miracle of Jesus’s birth. Take note of all the supernatural things God did to get our attention: The promises and proclamations. The angels and messengers. Mary, the virgin girl. The journey to Bethlehem. The innkeeper and the animals, the shepherds and the 6

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stars. The baby in the manger. The Messiah sent to save us. If you’ve never thought of Christmas as your own personal rescue story, if you long for spiritual revival, or if you’ve never put your faith in Jesus, take this time to pray and ask God to open your eyes to the wonder of Christ’s birth. Ask Him to awaken your heart. Ask Him to make it personal. And if you’ve never done so before, ask Him to save you.

A Christmas Prayer Dear Jesus, thank You for the miracle of Your birth. Thank You for coming to rescue me. Thank You for coming to find me. I want to live my life devoted to You, my Lord and my Savior. I dedicate this holy and sacred time of year to the celebration of Your birth. Help me rediscover the joy of Christmas and the wonder of Your coming. Revive my heart and fill me with a renewed sense of awe and childlike faith as I prepare my heart and home for Christmas. In Your name I pray, amen. 7

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Day 2

The Humbug of It All Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Matthew 6:33 esv

“Christmas a humbug, uncle!” said Scrooge’s nephew. “You don’t mean that, I am sure?”

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n Christmas Eve, we find Scrooge “busy in his counting-­house,” with his office door open and a sharp “eye upon his clerk,” Bob Cratchit. Bob copies letters by a tiny fire “in a dismal little cell beyond” and tries “to warm himself at the candle.” The “cold, bleak, biting” weather matches Scrooge’s mood. People “wheez[e] up and down” outside, “beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement 8

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stones to warm them.” Thick fog pours “in at every chink and keyhole,” and the houses opposite look like “mere phantoms.” In the midst of the cold and gloom, Scrooge’s cheerful nephew Fred enters: “A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!” But Scrooge snaps back angrily, “Bah! . . . Humbug!” Fred, “all in a glow,” looking “ruddy and handsome” from the cold, is not deterred. His eyes sparkle and his breath smokes: “Christmas a humbug, uncle! . . . You don’t mean that, I am sure?” But Scrooge does mean it. He tells Fred, “Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.” But Fred points out that Scrooge doesn’t keep it at all. He skips it! Scrooge claims Christmas never did anybody “much good,” but Fred points to “the veneration” of the holiday “due to its sacred name and origin.” He says Christmas is “a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time” of year when “men and women . . . open their shut-­up hearts freely, and . . . think of people below them.” Finally, Fred declares, “I believe that [Christmas] has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!” But Scrooge is unmoved. To Scrooge, Christmas is nothing but humbug or nonsense—­a scam. He sees it as one big plot to make 10

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him part with his money. And perhaps he has a point. Sometimes the Christmas season can feel like nonsense. It often seems more draining than delightful. The sacred gets lost in the spending. The holy is so easily overshadowed by the humbug. If Christmas doesn’t seem to be doing us “much good,” maybe we’re doing it wrong. Maybe instead of keeping Christmas our way, we need to keep it God’s way. Maybe we need to find our way back to Bethlehem, back to the sacred origin of this special time of year. When Jesus was born on that holy night over two thousand years ago, there was no tree or tinsel, no holly or ivy. There was a young virgin girl and her husband, far from home, with nowhere to stay. Mary gave birth to a son in the quiet of the night: “She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them” (Luke 2:7). Shepherds came to see Him and told everyone what they had seen and heard, and “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (v. 19). The first Christmas was simple and sacred, and our faith is meant to be the same: intimate and life-­g iving. Jesus didn’t come for the feast or festivities, the traditions or the trimmings. He came to have a personal relationship 11

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with His people. His very name Immanuel means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Christmas isn’t humbug. Christmas is God coming down and inviting us to know Him.

Prepare Him Room If Christmas is about anything other than Jesus, it falls flat. No matter how amazing we try to make it, no matter how many parties we attend or special baking projects we tackle, if Jesus isn’t at the center of our hearts and plans, we end up feeling drained and empty. Are you tired of all the hoopla? Are you exhausted by the humbug of it all? Often, the clutter and clamor of the Christmas season leave very little room for Christ! If you want to do things differently this year, take this time to lay your plans before the Lord. “Seek first” the things of God, and everything else will fall into place (Matthew 6:33). Ask God to help you sift through the wood, hay, and straw of distraction in your life (1 Corinthians 3:12), and focus your eyes on celebrating the most precious gift of all: Jesus, the Son of God, your Immanuel. As you prepare for Christmas, take time to treasure 12

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up and ponder all the details of Jesus’s birth. Tiptoe back to Bethlehem and revel in the beauty of it all. Settle your soul next to the manger, bask in the glory of God’s one and only Son, and bow your heart in worship.

A Christmas Prayer Dear Lord, thank You for helping me refocus my attention on You today. I want to set aside the busyness and humbug of the Christmas season and place You at the center of my heart and celebrations. I don’t want to live stressed and busy. I want to fully experience the joy of this sacred season. Your coming is the best news of all and I say, God bless it! Show me where to trim back my calendar so I’m not overwhelmed and distracted. I want to give You my full attention this Christmas. In Your name I pray, amen.

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Day 3

“Come! Dine with Us.” I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Revelation 3:20

“I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?”

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efore Fred leaves Scrooge’s office on Christmas Eve, he invites his uncle to spend Christmas Day with him and his wife, but Scrooge refuses to come. And it’s not just because Scrooge tends to avoid family gatherings. It’s because he doesn’t mingle or mix with other people—­ever. He doesn’t seek out the company of others, and people don’t typically seek him out: “Nobody 14

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ever stop[s] him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, ‘My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?’ ” And Scrooge prefers it that way: “What did Scrooge care! It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance.” In fact, most everyone—­including children and blind men’s dogs—­avoids Scrooge at all cost. Except for his nephew Fred. Fred comes into Scrooge’s counting-­house year after year, Christmas after Christmas, with an invitation: “Come! Dine with us to-­morrow.” But Scrooge always refuses. This time, Fred practically begs Scrooge, saying, “I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?” But no matter what Fred says, Scrooge won’t budge. Despite Scrooge’s efforts to push him away, Fred refuses to give up on Scrooge. Regardless of Scrooge’s grumbling and bah-­humbugging, Fred vows to keep trying: “I mean to give him the same chance every year, whether he likes it or not, for I pity him.” Scrooge can “rail” at him all he likes, but Fred isn’t going to stop inviting him. Scrooge doesn’t deserve Fred’s yearly invitation, but 16

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Fred extends it anyway. Scrooge hasn’t earned Fred’s kindness, but Fred offers it freely. What a stunning picture of God’s great compassion toward us, year in and year out. And what a powerful echo of Christ’s daily invitation to come and commune with Him. Jesus’s coming was God’s ultimate, loving pursuit of mankind. Jesus in the manger came with an invitation—­a n invitation to become “children of God!” (1 John 3:1). Not because we earned it. Not because of anything we did to deserve it. But because of His great mercy (Titus 3:5). In fact, the Bible tells us that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He came to make us His own. Jesus comes into our counting-­houses, into our daily lives and places of work and play, asking one simple question: “Cannot we be friends?” He invites us into His embrace and pursues us with a continual, persevering kind of love. He doesn’t shy away from our problems. He doesn’t cross to the other side of the street or avoid us. He doesn’t turn a blind eye to our pain or sorrow. He keeps knocking. He keeps pursuing. He never gives up. His goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives (Psalm 23:6). 17

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Prepare Him Room Fred doesn’t want to merely spend Christmas with his uncle Scrooge; he wants a relationship. To an even greater degree, Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with you. He stands, knocking at the door of your heart, ready to come in and dine with you (Revelation 3:20). The question for you is this: Will you accept the invitation to come and sit with Jesus today? Who is the “Scrooge” in your life? Who is the person you refuse to give up on? We all know someone who is grumpy or prickly—­someone we’d rather avoid. We all have people in our lives that we dearly love and can’t seem to reach. This Christmas, let’s learn from Fred’s example and be known as the ones who welcome. Let’s be people who never give up. Let’s be people who keep inviting. Let’s be people who continually open our homes—­a nd our hearts—­to those around us. If it seems as though someone you love will never change or turn to the Lord, start today with consistent, daily prayer. Don’t give up hope. You never know when your “Scrooge” might soften.

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A Christmas Prayer Lord, thank You for inviting me into Your embrace day after day. Thank You for pursuing me, year in and year out. I want to accept Your invitation to walk in closer communion with You, Jesus. Make me a vessel of Your grace to the people around me. Show me how to join You in the loving pursuit of hearts, especially during the Christmas season. Teach me to be a person who always invites, always pursues, and never gives up. For the people I know who seem hardened to Your love, I ask You to please soften their hearts. In Your name I pray, amen.

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