Thomas Nelson - A Charles Dickens Devotional

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A CHARLES DICKENS
DEVOTIONAL

COMPILED and WRITTEN by
JEAN FISCHER

A Charles Dickens Devotional

2012 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Other Scripture quotations are taken from: Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT). 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. KING JAMES VERSION (KJV). Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV). 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. THE ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION (ESV) 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION (CEV). 1991 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission. NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE (NASB). The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL READERS VERSION (NIRV). Copyright 1996, 1998 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica.

ISBN 978-1-4003-1954-1

Printed in China

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THERE IS A WISDOM OF THE HEAD,
AND... THERE IS A WISDOM
OF THE HEART.

Charles Dickens, Hard Times

Thomas Nelson gratefully acknowledges the use of Charles Dickenss works, all of which reside in the public domain. In reproducing excerpts for each entry, we have made every attempt to respect the nineteenth-century language of the period in which the novels were written. For this reason, we have in most instances chosen to retain the original spelling, syntax, and grammatical construct except where the result proves distracting or otherwise prevents accurate interpretation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

C harles Dickens is considered by many to be the grand master of Victorian English literature. Well known for his vibrant characters and themes of social injustice and moral decline, Dickenss writing has weathered a sea of cultural changes in the nearly two hundred years since early publication. In that time, his novels have delighted many generations of readers.

With protagonists overcoming vain and worldly obstacles and villains who act outside the realm of Christian values, Dickenss stories teach readers life lessons richly inlaid with the fruits of the Spiritlove, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness.

Hidden like gems among the pages of his novels are numerous religious images and biblical references: in Great Expectations, Pip praying for the Lord to be merciful to Abel Magwitch, a sinner and formidable criminal; in Bleak House, the image of Christ stooped down, writing with his finger in the dust when they brought the sinful woman to him; in Little Dorrit, adoration of wealth described as the camel in the needles eye.

The goal of this devotional is to connect you with the spirit of Christ through the words of Charles Dickens. The influence of Dickenss faith on his work is evident in a letter he wrote in 1870 (the same year he died): I have always striven in my writings to express veneration for the life and lessons of our Saviourbecause I feel it.

For each devotional entry, take a few moments to reflect, ponder, and allow the Dickensian excerpt and corresponding devotional to shape your thinking and influence your character. May this book award you a greater connection to the life and lessons of our Saviour, and may you feel it just as Dickens did.

In his final hours, Charles Dickenss thoughts were on Christ and eternity: A brilliant morning shines on the old city, he wrote on his deathbed. Its antiquities and ruins are surpassingly beautiful... Changes of glorious light from moving boughs, songs of birds, scents from gardens, woods, and fields... penetrate into the Cathedral, subdue its earthy odour, and preach the Resurrection and the Life.

As you read A Charles Dickens Devotional, may your heart also turn toward Christ our Savior, the Resurrection and the Life.

That punctual servant of all work, the sun, had just risen, and begun to strike a light on the morning of the thirteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, when Mr. Samuel Pickwick burst like another sun from his slumbers, threw open his chamber window, and looked out upon the world beneath. Goswell Street was at his feet, Goswell Street was on his right handas far as the eye could reach, Goswell Street extended on his left; and the opposite side of Goswell Street was over the way. Such, thought Mr. Pickwick, are the narrow views of those philosophers who, content with examining the things that lie before them, look not to the truths which are hidden beyond. As well might I be content to gaze on Goswell Street for ever, without one effort to penetrate to the hidden countries which on every side surround it. And having given vent to this beautiful reflection, Mr. Pickwick proceeded to put himself into his clothes, and his clothes into his portmanteau. Great men are seldom over scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire; the operation of shaving, dressing, and coffee-imbibing was soon performed; and, in another hour, Mr. Pickwick, with his portmanteau in his hand, his telescope in his greatcoat pocket, and his note-book in his waistcoat, ready for the reception of any discoveries worthy of being noted down, had arrived at the coach-stand in St. Martins-le-Grand. Cab! said Mr. Pickwick.