God's Biography on You

I like reading Christian biography. You can learn much from studying the life of a Moody or a Finney. As a research scholar, when I was compiling my research for my definitive biography on the British evangelist, George Whitefield, I had to be careful to include every source I could find on Whitefield's large life.

I had a primary source list and a secondary source list. And when I was finished writing that biography, it came to two volumes of over 1,200 pages. In our Bibles, or countless biographies of men and women whose life and deeds are recorded by God, we read about the kings of Judah and Israel, and we learn quickly who was a good king or a bad king by God's description.

In 2 Kings 18, we read of King Hezekiah, and right off the bat, in verse 3, we see, And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. And the text goes on to list the things about Hezekiah that made him a good king. He removed the high places and broke the images and cut down the groves.

So we see King Hezekiah got rid of all the idolatry in the land. Then it talks about how he built this and that for God. But we read about his son Manasseh, and we see, And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Then it lists all the bad things that Manasseh did during his long reign. He undid all the good his father had done. But as we read about these Bible characters, the record does not leave out the backsliding in sins of the good kings.

We read about the sad account of King David's moral bankruptcy with Bathsheba. We see Solomon's weakness for women, which led him to idolatry, and Hezekiah's sad boasting of his wealth. God keeps close accounts on all of them, the good and the bad.

And God keeps a record of our life just as well, friends, just as detailed in value scrutiny. We each have a definitive biography written on our life, written by God how we lived it, for better or worse, as recorded by God. The Bible says so in the book of Revelation, in chapter 20, where we read, And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. God has kept a record of my life from my birth up to my death, all the good things and all the bad things, all the things I have done and all the things I should have done and didn't, sins of commission as well as sins of omission, there is my personal record reflecting all the gold, silver, and precious stones for His glory, as well as all the wood, hay, and stubble of my collective rebellion and sin. I wish I could take an eraser and wipe out much of the record, but sadly I cannot.

One day future, I'll have to stand before Jesus and own up to everything He has on me, good and bad. And so will you, friend, so will you. We will have to give an account for even our motives.

Most folks live their lives with their eyes off of eternity, but that's a big mistake. There are some Christians who get too wrapped up in their business and they take their eyes off of eternity. There are even some pastors who end up with their eyes glued more in the problems of their church and that keeps their focus from eternity.

But you can write it down, friend, big, plain, and straight, that God has a biography on you, on your life, and it's a definitive one, leaving nothing out. Like the little poem says, only one life, which will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last.