Dickens at 200

1st Corinthians 10:31 - So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

We can examine each of our actions with the question: does it glorify God?   We were created to bear fruit, so that we might call attention to the presence of Jesus in us.

Colossians 3:17 - Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

He was not considered to be a devout or orthodox Christian - he was outspoken against what he perceived as the excesses of religious people and even embraced Unitarianism for a time.   But, he also wrote one of the greatest expressions of spiritual truth found in literature - A Christmas Carol.  Yes, today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens.  According to Stephen Rost in Christianity Today:

Dickens respected the Bible and Christ and sought to instill in his children the same reverence. Near the end of his life he wrote to a reader: “I have always striven in my writings to express veneration for the life and lessons of Our Saviour; because I feel it; and because I re-wrote that history for my children—every one of whom knew it from having it repeated to them—long before they could read, and almost as soon as they could speak. But I have never made proclamation of this from the house tops.”

In fact, in 1934, Dickens' last published work was released: The Life of Our Lord.  Rost writes:

The Life of Our Lord most clearly expresses Dickens’s religious disposition. He respected Christianity’s founder, Jesus Christ, who practiced what Dickens so desperately wanted to find in humanity.

A Christmas Carol is a remarkable tale of redemption, and while it is not specifically a Christian story, there are many spiritual principles that are woven through it.   Dickens had a fascination with the moral and spiritual elements of society, but it's hard to tell whether or not he actually embraced Christ.

Dickens was an artist with a gift - and you know, God has entrusted some who don't know Him with the ability to demonstrate to us spiritual truth.   And, as we recognize how God has gifted each of us, He will call us to use those gifts for His glory.   You may have the ability to write or speak, to paint or sing, or even to construct or sew.   All of those, and so many more, are intended to be used for His glory.   So don't doubt that somehow God has given you a talent...He is a God of unlimited creativity, and He desires for it to flow through us, His children.