Samuel Clemens, (Mark Twain) though about 10 years older than Olivia, was able to convince her to marry him. She was a Christian, and so resisted Twain’s initial proposals. He was so taken with her that he told her, ”If that is what it takes to win your hand, then I will live as a good Christian.”
The couple never argued or fussed at each other and were devoted to each other through the years. Twain read aloud the Bible to Olivia every day and avoided any action which Olivia considered morally wrong. The death of their daughter from spinal meningitis devastated Clemens and resulted in his declaration that he was an agnostic.
We are reminded by such things that one cannot marry into genuine Christianity, or earn it by determination to “live as a good Christian.” Though he knew the Bible fairly well, and we see many references to it in his writing, he never responded to its message in real faith. Thus, he was led about by the circumstances of life and embittered by life’s hard times.
It was Mark Twain who is said to have once commented, “Its not the hard-to-understand passages of Scripture that bother me, but rather those that I do understand.”
Moral living is admirable, but the essential thing is a personal salvation brought about by a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
– Pastor Emeritus William Rench