Billy Graham and Ruth Bell Graham recognized that our society often sits back in comfort, rather than obeying the Lord’s instructions through action. In the passages below, they each challenge us to take time to go out and do something –whatever the cost– to make disciples and spread the love of Jesus Christ.
God’s Judgement Day
In every phase of life we face this reoccurring question: “What think ye of Christ?” In youth, too happy to think—I’ve plenty of time. In manhood, too busy to think—I must make a living. In maturity, too anxious to think—I’ve more urgent problems. Declining years, too old to think—my pattern of life is set. As death approaches, too ill to think—my sensibilities are dulled and my mind weary. Death, too late to think—the spirit is flown, the day of opportunity is past, the harvest is gone, and now God’s Judgement Day.
from Wit and Wisdom by Billy Graham
Why Are You Praying?
There are times, I have found, when praying is not enough. God says, as it were, “Why are you praying? Do something!”
Moses, hotly pursued by Pharaoh, cried out to God, who replied, “Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward,” Exodus 14:15.
After Israel’s ignominious defeat at Ai, the desperate Joshua prostrate himself in prayer before the Lord, only to hear Him say, “Wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned,” Joshua 7:10-11.
“The polite part of speaking with God is to be still long enough to listen,” Edward Gloeggler has suggested.
If our hearts are listening as we pray, we will from time to time, hear “Why are you praying? Do something!” And we will know what it is what we must do. A wrong to put right, a sin to confess, a letter to write, a friend to visit, or perhaps a child to be rocked and read to.
C.S. Lewis suggests in Letters to Malcom that as we pray, Christ stands beside us changing us. “This may send a man,” he wrote, “from his prayers to help his wife in the kitchen or to his desk to write a needed letter.” And again, “I am often, I believe, praying for others when I should be doing things for them. It is so much easier to pray for a boor than to go and see him.”
