The Moody Views

By Dan Betzer
Guest Writer

CBN.com --One of the last truly effectual revivals in America took place shortly before the Civil War. A young man gave his life to Christ in the Boston area. Shortly after that, he moved to Chicago where God began to use him in a marvelous way.

He was not a preacher, not at first. He sold shoes. But he was deeply moved by the revival fires spreading across America. More and more, he found himself involved in ministry. Sunday School was a passion to him. He built a very large Sunday School in the windy city. By the early 1870's, he was a well-known evangelical leader in Chicago, but he was not yet nationally known.

Soon, the former shoe salesman led an evangelistic effort in Great Britain. He found immense success in Scotland, and when our hero returned to America, everyone seemed to know of the name Dwight Lyman Moody. His preaching style was not the pulpit thumping of a Billy Sunday but rather a reasoned delivery filled with illustrations.

His philosophy of ministry was simple but powerful. He said, "I look upon this world as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a lifeboat and said to me, 'Moody, save all that you can.'"

I ask you, is that not the purpose of every one of us who knows the Lord? Jesus said, "As my Father sent me into the world, so send I you." To do what? To reach the lost. Our primary reason for being is redemption. Many congregations seem to have forgotten that truth. Pleasing the membership sometimes takes precedence over reaching the lost.

Moody's concept should speak to our reason for being: To save all that we can.