Skip to main content

New Weekly Class on Christian Living: Learn How to Not Sin

Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navigators, visited the Naval Academy during my first-class year. On a Sunday afternoon, he spoke to about twenty Christian midshipmen in Memorial Hall. He was a dynamic speaker. At the end of his talk, he said he would like to talk with those of us who really meant business with the Lord. A few of us took him to the chaplain’s office.

He said to us, “How many of you want to sin?”

None of us wanted to sin.

“I will teach you how not to sin.” That sounded good to us. Dawson quoted Psalm 119: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word… Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:9, 11 KJV).

It was simple; all we had to do was hide the Word of God in our hearts. It seemed to work. In the next fourteen months, I memorized the 108 verses of the Navigators’ Topical Memory System.

When I was back in San Diego after my first year in Korea with the Navy, Doug Cozart was assigned to disciple me. I was impressed. I had a Daily Light devotional book; any verse I pulled out of the Daily Light, he could quote or give the reference if I read the verse.

The next year I memorized three verses a week, and the following year five verses a week. Around that time, I noticed that something wasn't right. I began to get suspicious: I was still sinning. “How many verses do I have to have in my heart to not sin?”

My problem was that I had been hiding the verses in my head, not in my heart. I was less like the Lord Jesus because of my arrogance about how much I knew of the Scriptures.

Beginning this Thursday at 7:00 p.m., I will be teaching a weekly class on practical Christianity in my home at 114 S. Howard St. The class is open to students and adults of all ages. If you read your Bible regularly, you already know what God tells you to do and not do. This class is for those of you who know the commands and want to obey them. That is practical Christianity.

Week 1: The “Read” Bible

Week 2: The Green Bible

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

Lifted Up

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

This is a post for those who are getting old or considering themselves old, from 65-100. Right now, I am 91.* I will be 92 in October. I have my own house, but I cannot live in it alone because of my physical inability to move around. One of my sons lives with me. All of us will have to make some adjustments. That includes money, relatives, your own ability and willpower to stay independent, etc. My advice is if physically and financially you can live independently, you should certainly do that. If you do, you will still need to have visits from your family frequently. You need your family. Even if you don’t need them to take care of you, you need them for the fellowship. The more fellowship you have, the longer you’ll live. If you can stay independent do it, but only if friends and relatives can see you often. In my case, I can’t walk, and I can’t do much physically. So, whether I like it or not, someone else has to get me up, get me showered, and get me dressed. I am blessed to have