Classic and contemporary excerpts
God called Vance Havner home on August 12. He was one of our era’s most quotable pulpiteers, and this edition of Reflections is dedicated to his memory.
A More Dangerous Stroll
We’re so smart in America we can walk on the moon, but it’s not safe to walk in the park.
The Peril Of Lesser Goals
I asked a preacher, “How are you getting along?”
He said, “We are living in idolatry—just sitting around admiring our new church. We have arrived; we have it made—no more worlds to conquer.”
What ought to be a milestone has become a millstone. We have run out of goals.
Separatists?
A church had a sign in front: JESUS ONLY. One night a storm blew out the first three letters and left us ONLY. Too many churches have come to that.
A Peaceful Existence
My wife and I were taking a bus trip through the mountains, and the bus broke down right in front of a hillbilly grocery store. The woman there apparently had never been anywhere else much.
My wife said, “I don’t believe she knows what’s going on in the world outside.”
I said, “Well, don’t tell her. I wouldn’t want the poor soul to know. Let her die in peace.”
Figuring Out Providence
I get a little weary of these dear souls who have all the dealing and doing of Providence catalogued and correlated and figured out and can give you glib little answers to your heartache. They haven’t been far. God just doesn’t operate on our time table. And some of His operations don’t add up on our computers.
The little boy who didn’t understand why God put so many vitamins in spinach and didn’t put more of them in ice cream had a pretty good idea that it just doesn’t work out like you’d think.
The Red Tide
If America is not buried by Red Russians from without, we may be smothered by Red Tape from within.
The Hope Of Dying
George Palmer said before he died, “I’m homesick for heaven.” It’s the hope of dying that has kept me alive this long.
A Heavenly Shakeup
Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, “Shake well before using.” That is what God has to do with some of His people. He has to shake them well before they are ever usable. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee.”
Whose Song?
One frequently meets passersby with music emanating from transistor radios on their persons. Lacking music in our hearts, we carry it in our pockets!
Search Committees
Knowing God is not a big item in the preparation of a lot of preachers over America today because, just between you and me, pulpit committees are not asking, “Does this prospective pastor know God?” They are asking, “Can he raise the budget?”
Alive Or Dead?
(God) wants our bodies as living sacrifices, not corpses.
Halfway Equals Lukewarm
A “halfway Christian” works both sides of the street. He is religious because it helps him in business and gives him a self-righteous satisfaction. But he has no intention of making Jesus Lord of his life. Yet our Lord said He would rather a man be cold, utterly without profession to be Christian, rather than medium, lukewarm, “moderate.”
Home Before Dark
When I started out as a boy preaching, Father went along. Then when I got old enough to go by myself, he’d meet me at the little railroad station in Newton, North Carolina. I can see him standing there by that old Ford roadster, in that old blue serge suit that hadn’t been pressed since the day he bought it.
When I’d go up to him, the first thing he’d ask me would be, “How did you get along?”
It’s been a long time, and one of these days when my train rounds into Grand Central Station in glory, I think he’ll be there—not in the old blue serge suit, but in the robes of glory. I wouldn’t be surprised if the first thing he’d say would be, “How did you get along?”
I think I’ll say, “Pretty well, and I owe a lot to you for it.” Then I think I’d say, “You remember back in the country when I was a little boy, no matter where I was in the afternoon I was supposed to be back by sundown. It’s been a long trip, Dad, but here I am by the grace of God, home before dark.”
All excerpts taken with permission from The Vance Havner Quote Book, compiled by Dennis J. Hester (Baker, 1986), and On This Rock I Stand (Baker, 1986; originally published under the title Vance Havner: Just a Preacher, © 1981 by Vance Havner).
