Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Patrick Miller.

Right now we're going through the first book of the Bible, Genesis.

When I became a Christian, I saw my battle with sin, something like climbing up a mountain

maybe. I'm not saying that I thought I needed to prove myself to God to earn His love.

I understood that His love is given to me freely in Jesus.

I understood that Jesus' forgiveness was a well which even the most sinful human could never, ever possibly drain.

And so when I say I saw my faith journey as a mountain, I mean that I thought that I would

battle one sin and once victorious over that sin I'd move past it.

I'd battle the sin of lust and then move on leaving lust behind and then I

battle the sin of selfishness and then move on leaving selfishness behind and then I'd battle the sin of gossip and move on leaving gossip behind.

The Christian life then would be a slow progression towards the mountaintop of holiness.

If you ever climbed a mountain, you'll understand what I mean.

When you're at the base of a mountain,

the plants begin to change as you go up.

You start with pines towering up to the heavens,

but as you move on, the trees begin to get smaller and

smaller and then there's these rhododendron bushes that take over and once you

finally break out onto the tundra the rhododendron almost becomes like a little moss.

And this is where you get the real views because those tall trees, they don't obstruct your

vision anymore.

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