You may be familiar with Charles Dickens’ classic short novel, "A Christmas Carol." Dickens' character Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. His former employer, Jacob Marley visits him as a spirit wearing shackles, symbolizing the failings of their life on earth. Whether sins of the past, present, or future, we often wear our own proverbial shackles and are bound by them in this life. The good news of Christmas, however, is God putting on flesh and becoming as one of us. In Jesus, we find freedom from the shackles of our past, our present, and our future.