Billy Graham - Q & A Interview

Billy Graham just conducted an insightful interview with Christianity Today on the following questions.

• What advice would you give to people who are aging?
• What would you say to children who have aging parents?
• If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?
• What are the most important issues facing evangelicals today?

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the article...

On aging:

• But God has a reason for keeping us here (even if we don't always understand it), and we need to recover the Bible's understanding of life and longevity as gifts from God—and therefore as something good. ... So part of my advice is to learn to be content, and that only comes as we accept each day as a gift from God and commit it into his hands. Paul's words are true at every stage of life, but especially as we grow older: 'Godliness with contentment is great gain' (1 Tim. 6:6)."
• "As we grow older we should focus not only on the present, but more and more on Heaven. ... If we know Christ, we know we have 'an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you' (1 Pet. 1:4). ... Heaven gives us hope, and makes our present burdens easier to bear."
• "So the first thing I'd say to those whose parents are growing older is to be prepared for it, and to accept whatever responsibilities it brings you.  Then be patient with them."

On ministry and evangelism:

• "I'd spend more time at home with my family, and I'd study more and preach less. I wouldn't have taken so many speaking engagements, including some of the things I did over the years that I probably didn't really need to do... Whenever I counsel someone who feels called to be an evangelist, I always urge them to guard their time and not feel like they have to do everything."
• "I also would have steered clear of politics. ... looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn't do that now."
• "But the most important issue we face today is the same the church has faced in every century: Will we reach our world for Christ? In other words, will we give priority to Christ's command to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Or will we turn increasingly inward, caught up in our own internal affairs or controversies, or simply becoming more and more comfortable with the status quo? Will we become inner-directed or outer-directed? The central issues of our time aren't economic or political or social, important as these are. The central issues of our time are moral and spiritual in nature, and our calling is to declare Christ's forgiveness and hope and transforming power to a world that does not know him or follow him. May we never forget this."
  
  
  

Christian Quotes on Suffering

"Jesus promised the disciples three things---that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy and in constant trouble." G.K. Chesterton


"No character is ultimately tested until it has suffered." Harry Emerson Fosdick

"Christian, remember the goodness of God in the frost of adversity." Charles Spurgeon

"They gave our Master a crown of thorns. Why do we hope for a crown of roses?" Martin Luther

"God would not rub so hard if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures. God loves purity so well He had rather see a hole than a spot in His child's garments." William Gurnall

"Whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of His fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil." John Calvin

"God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain." C.S. Lewis

"A Christian is someone who shares the sufferings of God in the world." Dietrich Bonhoffer

From http://christianquotes.org/tag/cat/35/0/34

Quote - Billy Graham

"If I had it to do over again, I'd spend more time in meditation and prayer and just telling the Lord how much I love Him and adore Him and (am) looking forward to the time we're going to spend together for eternity." - Billy Graham