"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

2 Corinthians 5:17

In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Jacob Marley is the deceased business partner of Ebenezer Scrooge. Marley’s ghost visits Scrooge on Christmas Eve at the beginning of the story. And then the memorable scene comes when Mr. Marley holds in his hands clanging chains and he says to Scrooge, “I forged these chains link by link.”

My mind got to thinking about these chains. How were these chains forged? And are we forging chains link by link in our lives?

One must consider that these links are being formed by acts of sin. And they can be forged by the pride of life, the love of money, greed and other worldly pleasures that consume us and control us.

Keep in mind that forging requires heat which then changes the metal’s internal structure. With that image in your mind, think about sin for a moment. Are not the links we forge, forged by our sin? Does the forging of sin in our life make our hearts tough? The links that we forge are forged from the fires of hell itself and Satan is at the controls turning up the heat.

I see his big fiery darts as sin being forged by the heat of sin. With that nagging continual sin, we forge our links when we allow sin to prevail in our lives. And because forging strengthens metal and reorganizes the internal structure, do you see why breaking the chains of sin becomes difficult – but not impossible!

There is One, to whom even the flames of hell must bow! Yes, at times He gives the fire permission to burn, but Jesus Christ is able take even the hardest of chains and reforge them into something beautiful.

But sometimes God will turn up the heat! We allow links to be forged in the fire of sin, but then to be free from the chains we must submit to the Refiner’s fire! Keep this in mind - the fire that breaks the chains of sin and bondage has the power to transform us into a new creation.

As I think about the links that Mr. Marley forged and the sound of the weight of those dragging chains, I wonder how many links were in my chain before I met my Chain Breaker?

Satan's desire for us to be forged in sin and molded to this world, but God's desire is for us to be forged by the fire of the love that He has for us. Thank God that His desire for us is to break the chains of condemnation so we can conform to Christ.

God bless you,

Mark Lauer