A Legalistic Faith
Yet, for all of this spiritual mentoring, Dwight’s faith was still young and rather legalistic. For him, Christianity was more about what not to do than what to do; it emphasised the Ten Commandments and the taboos of drinking, dancing, and card playing over the Sermon on the Mount and the law of love. His zeal was irrepressible, but its focus was not always correct.
A Misguided Zeal
One time, after a prayer meeting, he came upon two friends playing an innocent game of checkers, and he acted as if he were Jesus among the moneychangers. He seized the board, dashed it to pieces, and dropped to his knees in prayer- presumably on behalf of his friends stuck in such idle pursuits, not for his own self-righteousness and uncontrolled anger. It would be some time before he came to the conviction that it was God’s goodness, not His wrath, that leads people to repentance.
A Heart for the Marginalized
When his tenacity came under the anointing of the Holy Spirit later in his life, together they would prove an explosive mixture for revival wherever he ministered. While missions and Sunday schools were popping up all over Chicago, Dwight noted a void – no one was reaching out to the children who were orphaned or who lived in homes broken by alcoholism or poverty. As these children tended to be unruly and difficult to handle in a standard sit-and-listen Sunday school environment, they were expelled more than pursued directly. However, Dwight’s heart went out to them, and he decided to act on his empathy.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Tale Tuesday 074
Date: 6th February 2024
Title: : Dwight L. Moody – The Greatest Layman (Part 6)
Source: God’s generals- The Revivalists
Author: Roberts Liardon
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