This is the first of Dwight L. Moody’s books I’ve ever read. I have several books written by him, lying for years in my Kindle library. When I finally decided to read again, I chose this book because the title and the book cover somehow told me this would be an easy read.
While I had never read any of his books before, but I’ve heard D. L. Moody’s great name and his work in evangelism back to the time I was a child. That’s why I’ve chosen his book to be one of the first books I picked up.
At first I thought that this book would tell stories about children, or would tell a story about children in a Biblical view. But I was wrong.
This book has two sections. The first section tells about the children. These children are told as illustrations in Moody’s sermons, both in his home country and abroad.
The children he told in his story are not always as sweet as depicted in the book cover. Moody told us about children – younger and older, and their roles in families. These children were either the reason for the parents’ joy in Christ, or in contrast the source of their ever despair.
These children were either the one who brought their parents to Christ, or the one who lost their lives. Moody didn’t illustrate them as sinless naive creatures. But as realistic as our current reality, these children brought with them the stories of joy, love, but also hardships.
Moody was born in 1837 and passed away in 1899. In April 1855 Moody was converted to evangelical Christianity when his Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball, talked to him about how much God loved him. His conversion sparked the start of his career as an evangelist.
I love the fact that Moody’s sermons were able to give us the pictures of people back almost 200 years ago. Yes I’m not American and I don’t live in the USA. But it’s interesting to know how a man could stand up for Christ in that age of time, where Christ was able to be openly announced and also openly rejected by people.
The second section of the book tells us the story about Moody’s life. I was fully taken to read how he survived the hardship of his childhood, labeled as someone who had no chance in Christianity because of his roughness, and yet he found Christ’s love and used all of his life and energy to share his love.
I was fully touched to read his short biography in these few chapters. Though he lived many years ago, his love and eagerness to love Christ and love His people surely can be felt through the pages.
I fully recommend this book to be read by my fellow Christians, and I’m eager to read the next title from Moody’s books. See you!
