“The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.”
“After our great generals, great statesmen, great scientists and great men of letters have passed away and been forgotten… the work of D. L. Moody will go on and its saving influence continue and increase…. Yes, it will continue throughout the ages of eternity.”
The above words were spoken by the evangelist and Christian author R.A. Torrey – who had been a personal friend of D. L. Moody. And he was right – the legacy of Moody’s ministry continues and in that sense will live on in the hearts of men and women generation after generation. Many people and their descendents will be in heaven partly because God used Moody to introduce them to Bible-based teaching about Himself.
The sixth in a family of nine children, Dwight Lyman Moody was born on February 5, 1837, in Northfield, Massachusetts. Although his parents were godly, he would never know a normal home life. When he was just ten years old, his father died, and the boy Moody was forced to leave home to get a job.
After a Sunday School teacher led Moody to Christ when he was 18, his life changed dramatically. During the forty years following his salvation, he led at least one million souls to Christ, taught thousands of men how to preach, started three Christian schools, and created the world’s largest Sunday School. (Abraham Lincoln was once a guest speaker for it!)
Moody teamed up with the talented Christian musician Ira D. Sankey; and together, they conducted Gospel meetings all over the world.
“There are many of us who are willing to do great things for the Lord,” Moody once said, “but few of us are willing to do little things.” Such little things might include encouraging a brother or sister in Christ, showing love to someone who is ungrateful, or doing kind things in secret. What “little thing” can you do for Christ today? If you hope to do something big for Him, you ought to be content to start with “small things” and do them well for Him and His people. Being faithful with small things is good practice for faithfulness in bigger things, if that’s what God wills.
Mark 9:41 – “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”