Sin in Biographies

Great men in history have had many biographies written about them; Lincoln, Napoleon, Washington, and John Adams. Even though many of them have been written to make the subject a hero, they do not succeed without withholding information or changing it. After several generations have gone by, new biographies are written and we find out their heroes were human and as humans, they sinned. Again, the sins are written as fact. If the man had received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that would be left out.

There are other biographies where sin is mentioned and the solution is in the man’s life. He received Jesus Christ sometime in his life and then spent the rest of his life living and proclaiming Jesus.

Here are a few such people of which I have read and re-read over the last sixty years; Corrie Ten Boom, Amy Carmichael, Irene Webster-Smith, George Mueller, James Fraser, Hudson Taylor, John Sung, Pastor Hsi, Charles Simeon, The Cambridge Seven, and Oswald Chambers.

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Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a

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In the first thirteen verses of John 3, Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus was talking about. It was nonsense to him. When Jesus said verse fourteen to him, Nicodemus finally understood Jesus. Here it is: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up…” (John 3:14). The reason it made sense to Nicodemus was because he knew of the event that Jesus spoke of. People who had been bitten by a serpent could look at the bronze snake and did not die. Nicodemus knew the Bible story. Here it is: “Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyo

Getting Old

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Roots by the River

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