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Billy Graham was a man of whom it can be said: His was “a life well-lived!” From the personal humility and integrity in which he walked to the incalculable impact he made in millions of lives around the globe; his, was a life “well-lived!”
Dr. Graham was converted to Christ in an evangelistic meeting in 1934 led by Dr. Mordecai Ham. He was about sixteen years of age. He surrendered to preach while a college student in Florida in March 1938. His zeal to win souls to Christ knew no bounds. And in these years he would learn the secret of being used by God. He and a friend spent most of Sunday afternoon on the dirt floor of a garage praying for the church in which they had ministered that morning. The church had seemed dry and unresponsive to the Lord. After an afternoon of praying they went to a packed church that night and saw over thirty young people surrender their lives to Christ. Billy remarked to his friend that he had, quote,
“…learned my greatest lesson. It’s not by might or power or any fancy sermon, it’s wholly and completely the work of the Holy Spirit.”
(Billy Graham, J. Polluck (McGraw-Hill, 1966), p. 22)
Transferring to Wheaton College near Chicago in 1940, there he would meet his wife, Ruth. What a “help-meet” she was. The daughter of missionaries to China, her commitment to Christ would match his. All throughout life, she was at his side, though much of the time that would be “in spirit” only. The miles would often come between them physically, but never in their heart. They had a marriage like few others in commitment to God and to each other. At Billy’s funeral, Franklin, their son, related how, in the last years of Ruth’s life while she was bedfast, Billy would sit beside her and they would look into each other’s eyes for hours on end. Their love was true until the end!
In 1949, Billy was invited to lead an Evangelistic Crusade in Los Angeles. As God would have it, this would be the meeting which would catapult him into the national limelight, as it continued for eight weeks. 9,000 people crowded in or around the big tent. That would be the beginning of 417 Crusades in 185 countries around the world during the next sixty years. Billy Graham probably preached to more people in person than any other man in history. His impact is astounding. Millions around the world attribute their relationship to Christ to this tall North Carolinian who never let up until in his eighties. Over sixty times he was voted as one of the ten most influential people on earth.
Probably, Billy Graham will be most remembered for the simple message of the Gospel of Christ which he so faithfully delivered over a lifetime. I never heard him preach but what he called people to repentance, often saying, “Jesus said, ‘Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.’” (Luke 13:3) Then he would state, “Repentance means that you change your mind. You change your way of living.” He would urge people to turn to Christ, believing “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) I heard him many times warn of the judgment of God, something you seldom hear today, quoting, “It is appointed to man once to die, and after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)
But for me, though I greatly appreciated His preaching of the simple Gospel of Christ, the thing I will remember Billy Graham for the most, is his lifetime of integrity and humility. It’s characterized by what he told Franklin to put on his tombstone: Simply the word, “Preacher”.
What kind of legacy will you leave for your children and the world?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.