Life lessons from Corrie ten Boom - part 1Sample

The charge which stood against us

Colossians 2:14 (NIV)

“Having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

For three months, Corrie is in solitary confinement in the Scheveningen prison. For the first weeks Corrie is too sick to get off her prison bed. After a few weeks she is interrogated by a Nazi-officer. He wants to know everything about her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Eventually he really tries to help Corrie and Betsie to get a lighter verdict. One day, Corrie comes into his office again. He has a great pile of papers in front of his desk. “Do you recognize these papers?” he asks. She certainly does! The papers contain all kinds of information about people in the resistance and it can result in the death sentence of many. In the chaos of the raid they had forgotten to take the papers into the hiding place. Inward trembling, outwardly calm, she answers: “No, I do not recognize them.”

“Neither do I”, the officer replies. He turns around and throws the papers in the fireplace where the flames burn them.

A deep joy overflows Corrie’s heart, even under these horrible circumstances. Colossians 2:14 comes into her mind and she has never realized before in such a deep sense that if she has to appear before her Eternal Judge after she dies and wants to apologize for all her wrongdoings, her loving heavenly Father will reply: “I do not know what you are talking about. The charge which stood against you, I have taken away, I have nailed it to the cross.”

To reflect upon

Colossians 2:14 can be true for you as well. God accepts you in the Lord Jesus Christ and He chooses not to remember your sins anymore. Then we can forgive ourselves as well and know that we are loved by our Heavenly Father. We will not be condemned anymore by our Eternal Judge. Yes, the Lord can convict us of our sins, but there is no condemnation anymore in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

Prayer 

Thank You Lord, that all my sins are forgiven and that the charge, which stood against me is taken away. You nailed it to the cross. Thank You Lord Jesus that I have free access to the Throne of Grace. 

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During the Second World War Corrie ten Boom and her family worked in the resistance in the Netherlands. They helped about 800 people. Many of them were Jewish. Corrie was betrayed and spent 10 months in imprisonment in Scheveningen and in the concentration camps  Vught and Ravensbrück. After the war she travelled all over the world to tell others about Gods love, forgiveness and grace. Corrie came from a Bible-believing family which reached back many generations. The Bible had a central place in their lives. The Living Word of God: the Lord Jesus Christ, spoke to them through the written Word of God. They read the Bible on a daily basis and knew many Bible verses by heart.

Dientje Wiersma is a tour guide at the Corrie ten Boom house in Haarlem in the Netherlands. She wrote this reading plan. She used Bible verses that were very important to the family and wrote about both the significance and the applications of these verses in the lives of the family Ten Boom. 

A question and prayer at the end of each devotional may help you to see the significance and application of these verses in your own life as well.

Do you want to know more about Corrie ten Boom? Go to www.corrietenboom.com