Henry Drummond took a New Testament from his hip picket at an 1881 party among country friends in England. As Drummond began to speak on the greatest thing in the world, Evangelist Dwight L. Moody decided he’d never heard anything so beautiful.
Moody decided he wouldn’t rest until Drummond’s book, The Greatest Thing in the World, was read before students in all his schools.
“The one great need in our Christian life is love, more love to God and to each other,” Moody wrote as his introduction to Drummond’s little book, now a classic. “Would that we could all move into that Love chapter and live there.”
Today, more than ever, our children, our spouses, our extended family, students we teach, our neighbors, our brothers and sisters in the Lord, need to know they are loved. They also need to learn how to love others, God and themselves. Love not only is the greatest thing in the world, love is a God-designed weapon that intercepts Satan’s missiles and blasts through devastating circumstances so we can tunnel through to a victorious life.
Of all the books I’ve read outside of the Bible, Henry Drummond’s book has had the most impact on me.
Here’s what Drummond says about anger, perhaps the biggest obstacle to demonstrating love.
“No form of vice, not worldliness, not greed of gold, not drunkenness itself does more to unchristianize society than evil temper. For embittering life, for breaking up communities, for destroying the most sacred relationships, for devastating homes, for withering up men and women, for taking the bloom of childhood, in short, for sheer gratuitous misery-producing power, this influence stands alone.”
The book, first published in 1880, is still available on the internet. My copy is a reprint by Revell Publishing and I’ve had it since 1960.
Many lives have been impacted by Drummond’s writing, including mine.
©Ada Brownell 2012
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