Mark Twain
“The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13).
As a boy, I laughed and cried as I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn. I gave little if any thought to the author of these books, until later I studied the life of Mark Twain.
Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, had his share of tragedy. He blamed himself for his younger brother’s death in a steamboat accident at age 20, and for the death of his only son, who died from diphtheria at 19 months. He grieved bitterly over the deaths of two of his daughters — one from meningitis at age 23 and the other from a heart attack at 29.
But instead of turning to God and the Saviour, he became bitter and pessimistic. When he died at age 74, he was desperately lonely, unhappy and hopeless.
Mark Twain had an emptiness that could not be satisfied with money and fame. His success as a writer only increased his misery and sense of loss. His life illustrates the folly of living without God. If only he had trusted Christ for salvation he could have looked to Him for comfort and fulfilment.
