Well Done – Billy Graham

What a profound perspective and message!  Billy Graham died yesterday at the age of 99.  This humble and unassuming man has had a huge impact on our world for nearly 100 years.  There are so many, many reasons for this….  but not the least of them is the way he chose to live his life.  Though he had the confidence of numerous U.S. Presidents, heads of state and all sorts of rulers, and the rich and famous all over the world, he never looked on those with power and position as more important than the common man he spoke to in his hundreds of ministry crusades or those average people he met on the street.  This was because he knew God didn’t look on those to whom the world gave power and authority as more worthy than anyone else.  His message was the same everywhere he went and with everyone he met.  It was a pure and simple message of God’s love and forgiveness and the redemption He offers to all.

Billy Graham never tried to use his own celebrity for personal gain or to sell anything. He never succumbed, as so many have, to lend his name to be used to make money on goods or services.  His calling was clear, and his intentions singular.  He wanted to share the love of Christ pure and simple.  Over the course of his ministry he spoke to more people in live audiences than anyone else in history having preached in more than 185 countries and territories, to over 215 million people and millions more through television, radio and on-line. In all it is estimated that God used this simple country preacher from North Carolina to speak to approximately 2.2 billion men, women, and children in the course of his lifetime about God’s love.  If you had the pleasure of hearing him speak you will know how simple and profound his messages were.  If you have never heard him before, or want to hear him again, you can watch many of his messages at billygraham.org/videos.

In an age where so many who have achieved notoriety and fame have been embroiled somewhere along the line in some sort of scandal or questionable activity, what may be most remarkable is that Billy Graham in his 99 years, never dishonored himself, his family, or his God.  He was fond of saying “Someday, you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.”  Yesterday morning Billy made that “change of address”.

There is a passage of scripture in Matthew 25 that is very fitting to this humble and remarkable man.  In a parable told by Jesus himself, there is the description of a scene much like one that must have taken place in heaven yesterday.  A master, upon hearing how his servant had wisely and obediently done as he was asked, praises him with the words “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”  We too say, of Billy Graham and this life very well lived, “Well done. You will be missed, but your life will continue to have impact and your message of the love and forgiveness of God will live on.”

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