RESCUE2014

“The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”

It is often in the mundane traffic of relationships that words are spoken which burn deeply into the heart of another. Yet the one who spoke them has neither recall of the event nor awareness of its impact. Such was an unfortunate moment in my personal journey. Having once more crossed the subjective line of “the hair-length rule,” my college Dean of Students had summoned me again to his office. I was a 22-year-old husband and father of two. It just seemed ridiculous that I should be expected to submit to an archaic “rule” about the length of a student’s hair. Now granted, it was the ‘70’s and the “hippy movement” was in full swing. But still, hair?

Mr. Carrier began: “Tom, you have a real problem with authority in your heart, don’t you?” Now, there was a bit more to our conversation. But in those 3 to 5 minutes in the dean’s office, that one line burned deeply into my soul. God exposed a previously unaddressed attitude of my heart, and I would slither out of his office and quietly walk home, never to be quite the same.

Abraham had a moment that like. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing…in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…”—Genesis 12

“The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. I will try my utmost to be that man.” This memorable and motivational line has long been attributed to D.L. Moody, the great shoe-cobbler turned evangelist and founder of the great college that bears his name. But the reality is, Moody didn’t originate the line. It was in a church foyer conversation with a British preacher named Henry Varley that the statement was first made. In a passing comment Mr. Varley had said, “Moody, the world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to him.” D.L. could not forget that statement. It burned in his mind and heart as he returned to the United States. And as a commitment to God, he added the phrase, “I will try my utmost to be that man.” A year after that conversation, Henry Varley had no recall of having personally said that.

About five years after my unfortunate but life-changing visit to the dean’s office, I had the privilege of sitting across the table from Mr. Carrier. I told him how thankful I was for that day when he spoke painful truth to me. Not only did he not recall making that statement, he, praise the Lord, had no recall of that meeting! But his words changed the course of my life.

In a Divinely ordained moment in a metropolitan city on the Persian Gulf, God spoke a word to a pagan that would change the course of his life. “If you leave…I will bless.” A simple line both God and Abraham never forgot. And it changed the course of the lives of millions because the one who heard it took it to heart!

What word might YOU speak today that will change a life for eternity?

“I will try my utmost to be that man!” #RESCUE2014