Hope for Mr. Grinch

This time of year almost every radio station is playing Christmas music, some traditional and some new. As I was taking my daughter to school this morning I heard an old classic Christmas tune...Mr Grinch. I have heard this song numerous times but for some reason the lyrics just jumped out at me. Take a look at just a portion of the lyrics.

You're a rotter, Mr. Grinch,
You're the king of sinful sots,
Your heart's a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Grinch,
You're a three decker sauerkraut and toadstool sandwich with arsenic sauce!

You nauseate me, Mr. Grinch,
With a nauseous super "naus"!,
You're a crooked dirty jockey and you drive a crooked hoss, Mr. Grinch,
Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!

You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch,
You're a nasty wasty skunk,
Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Grinch,
The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote,
"Stink, stank, stunk"!

As I listened to this song I began to think about our souls. If we were honest with ourselves we would probably admit this is a really good description of who we are deep inside. Deep inside where few, if anyone, other than ourselves ever get to see. Look at how the Bible describes the human heart.

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew 15:19 - For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Romans 3: 10-12 None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.

For many the song ends there. Many are foul, nasty and they stink, stank, stunk. But for others, the song has a much better ending. Look at how the apostle Paul describes those who are trusting in Christ. It starts out very much like the Grinch song but it has a much better ending.

I Corinthians 6: 9-10 - 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

II Corinthians 5: 17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Paul says there is hope of having a new heart, there is hope that our sins can be forgiven, that our heart can be made new. That hope is not in trying harder to be a good person, that hope is not in ignoring the problem and hoping it will fix itself, the hope Paul speaks about is the finished work of Christ. Understanding that what took place on the cross is where we must begin, understanding that Christ took our place on the cross, he took upon himself our dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots hart, our appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots souls and he died for them.

When he said "it is finished" he meant it. All that God required for the forgiveness of sin was accomplished by Christ. Forgiveness of sins comes through faith in Christ's finished work, not our feeble attempts at fixing ourselves.

Maybe this Christmas we can focus on the ultimate gift and the One who gave it.

Merry Christmas.