Among holiday movies, It’s a Wonderful Life ranks high in popularity with most people. Many would say it’s their favorite Christmas movie … and for good reason. The idea of the film is brilliant. Exploring the what ifs of the human experience, it asks the haunting questions that tug at our hearts. Can one life really make a difference? If this particular individual had never come to earth, would others’ lives be affected adversely? What unique contributions did he make when interacting with friends, family, and the community where he lived?

We can immediately see the implications of these kinds of questions. Today, we are wrestling with complex medical issues that affect the process of human birth. In our country alone, millions of babies have not been born because of our intervention and choice to abort them. What contributions would they have made to the world? How are we poorer because they never came among us?

As intriguing as it is to imagine the absence of ordinary people like George Bailey, it becomes even more significant when we consider the life of Jesus Christ. Without His incarnation, what would human history look like? And taking the question down to the personal level, what would your life, my life be like if He had refused to take on human flesh? Or if He had given in to Satan’s temptation to escape the horrors of the cross, or had not risen from the dead? How would these potential realities have affected us?

For a few painful moments this Christmas season I have tried to imagine life without Jesus … no indwelling Holy Spirit, no power over sin and death, no hope of future resurrection or a home in heaven, no forgiveness for my sins, and no relationship with God the Father. No rebirth, no communion with other saints, and no comfort or peace in life’s tragedies and discouragements. No reason to pray, no incentive to help others, no meaning for my life or the lives of my children, and nothing to look forward to beyond my relatively short lifespan. Oh, what a difference this extraordinary man made to my life and so many others!

Beyond the individual blessings of knowing Jesus, there are also broader social implications for world history in Christ’s incarnation. Without Jesus entering into the world and offering hope, there would be nothing to interrupt the inevitability of sin’s curse. Whole cultures would be doomed to a constant cycle of conflict, violence, war, theft, and exploitation of all kinds. There would be nothing to combat human corruption, lust, jealousy and envy, hatred, dissensions, and selfish ambition, which all lead eventually to despair, sadness, futility, and emptiness. There would be no hope of something better — something more loving and sacrificial, more altruistic, more lasting than the temporary pleasures of the flesh.

Have you ever longed for a world where you didn’t have to worry about thieves stealing your possessions or your financial identity … a world where you didn’t have to constantly come up with better and better passwords for dozens of online accounts and routinely trade in your credit cards just in case they were compromised? Have you ever wished for a society where children were never abused or neglected, murders never occurred, and vulnerable people were never swindled or lied to, never betrayed? In spite of what the humanists choose to believe (and John Lennon’s song “Imagine” notwithstanding), this kind of world is NOT possible without a drastic intervention from outside of ourselves that results in our hearts being changed. Jesus is our only hope for a better individual, society, and world. Imagine for a moment if He had not come!

Without Christ, we become mere animals, scratching our way to dominance or being dominated by someone else. If this is all there is, we would all agree that human life is far too short, both in terms of its length and its joys. As Moses observed, “We finish our years with a moan. The length of our days is seventy years – or eighty if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:9-10).

In another psalm David writes, “Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: he bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it” (Ps. 39:6). This is a good description of life without the hope of the Gospel, without Christ Jesus coming to earth to redeem us from our sin and to bring us into a brand new life as the sons and daughters of the living God.

If I think hard enough, I can remember what life was like before I knew Jesus. I can recall the emptiness of all the things I tried, seeking to fill the void in my heart. I can still feel the despair of wanting to be a better person but sensing the futility of even trying to be better than I was. I felt trapped by my inabilities but I had no idea why. I tried not to think too far ahead, for the contemplation of unending discontent was too painful. But at times I couldn’t escape the wistful longing for something better … fleeting glimpses of a life with more purpose, meaning, and fulfillment. But like so many who are blinded by the enemy, I couldn’t even imagine that such a wondrous thing could be possible.

So I continued to live day to day with whatever strength I could muster on my own. Like the famous lines from Shakespeare below, I was like some “poor player” who valiantly tried to make sense out of something that makes no sense … until the One is who is Life appears and makes it known.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.

Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more.

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Without Jesus, this is what life would be like for all of us. But oh what a difference one life can make! The angel who announced His birth assured the frightened shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). A Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. I’m so glad He came and showed me the way to God. I’m so glad His holy life and sacrificial death brought forgiveness for my sin and turned my life around. And I’m glad that the grave could not hold Him. Because He lives, I will live eternally as well. Death can no longer hold me in its grip. My life is now hid with Christ in God! Romans 8:19-21 tells us that even nature groans as it awaits the full manifestation of Christ’s rule. One day all things will be made right and good because He has triumphed over everything that exalts itself above God and brings destruction to the earth.

As we close out another holiday season and begin a new year, let’s take a moment to reflect on Jesus’ coming and what it means to us, these many years later. His blessings continue to flow into every generation who will put their trust in Him. My favorite Christmas carol, “Joy to the World,” celebrates what His incarnation brought to us and how His life has forever touched and changed everyone who believes in Him.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come; let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing.

No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness, and wonders of His love, and wonders of His love, and wonders, wonders of His love.

There is no one like Jesus. And no one else has ever impacted human history like He did in a very short span of time. As William Barclay wrote, “Jesus is the yes to every promise of God.” Everything promised in the Old Testament was fulfilled by His coming. And when He comes again in power and glory, He will rid the world of every spiritual enemy. This fact should fill our hearts with joy and peace, no matter what our lives may look like at this moment.

In his book The Pursuit of God, A.W. Tozer quotes from a sermon by Frederick Faber, an English clergyman and songwriter from the 1800s who passionately loved the person of Christ. I believe all of us who have known the impact of Jesus’ life on us can identify with Faber’s praise and gratitude. “Wherever we turn in the church of God, there is Jesus. He is the beginning, middle and end of everything to us. There is nothing good, nothing holy, nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which He is not to His servants. We can exaggerate about many things; but we can never exaggerate our obligation to Jesus or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us. All our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to an end of the sweet things that might be said of Him. Eternity will not be long enough to learn all that He is, or to praise Him for all He has done, but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we desire nothing more.”

Knowing Jesus Christ is the best thing that could ever happen to us in life. And what a shame it would be if we didn’t seek to share this blessing in every way possible with the people we know. Like George Bailey in the movie, we have been strategically placed in the world to make a difference for good. We have a part to play in seeing that His blessings continue to flow “far as the curse is found.” It is truly a wonderful life … but only if we give ourselves away in love, as Jesus did.

As we let His light shine through us we can offer hope for a new and better life for those who are trapped by sin. Let’s make that our prayer as we begin a new year with the One who made all the difference.