Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday September 28, 2010

That the lives of hundreds of thousands, even millions have been changed by the initial influence of one person on another is a matter of record. Henry Brooks Adams said:

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

Consider this scene left for our insight by William Reynolds:

"The first meeting I ever saw him at was in a little old shanty that had been abandoned by a saloon-keeper. He had got the place to hold the meetings in at night. I went there a little late; and the first thing I saw was a man standing up with a few tallow candles around him, holding a negro boy, and trying to read to him the story of the Prodigal Son and a great many words he could not read out, and had to skip. I thought, 'If the Lord can ever use such an instrument as that for His honor and glory, it will astonish me.' As a result of his tireless labor, within a year the average attendance at his school was 650, while 60 volunteers from various churches served as teachers. It became so well known that the just-elected President Lincoln visited and spoke at a Sunday School meeting on November 25, 1860."

The man teaching the class was one of nine children of an alcoholic father who died when the boy was four leaving the mother to do the best she could. His life was not easy. While working in a shoe store in Boston at age seventeen, his Sunday School teacher explained the Love of Christ to him and he was converted. The boy was Dwight Lyman Moody, who though he could barely read and write moved to Chicago and founded what is now known as Moody Church. During his lifetime he literally shook two continents for God. A teacher had a profound influence on his life. The teacher, Edward Kimball, cared about this one near street urchin and the rest is Christian history. The influence is still making an impact around the world via the ministries of Moody Church.

My pastor, Dr. Tom Wallace, always insisted, "Teacher's, remember you never know who you are teaching or what purpose God has for them." He was right.

Acts 5:42: And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2010 Use with Credit

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