Three Words can Transform your Life
If you say: ‘I’ll do it NEXT WEEK’ or ‘I’ll do it TOMORROW’ : DON’T! A 19th Century evangelist learned this lesson … The Hard Way!
I first published this story in 2021 and I am re-presenting it here for readers who may have missed it the first time around.
It contains a message that can transform the world. Based on a true story: the experience of an American evangelist in 1871, it applies today, just as much as it did in the 19th century … and it applies to everyone … including you.
“Tomorrow Never Comes”
That’s what they say, but these three words are not the three transformative words in the title of this story.
The three words that can transform your life are derived from a 19th Century Christian Evangelist’s greatest error. An error he made good on, but not until he’d learned a lesson: ‘The lesson of the three words’.
These three words can be applied by you and me today, but before I reveal the evangelist’s story, and before I tell you what ‘the three words’ are, here’s a special invitation just for you:
If you are not a Christian; if you are someone of another faith; or someone of no faith; even if you are an all-out atheist, please do read on … this is for you.
Here’s the story:
The Lesson of The Three Words
Dwight Moody was an evangelist who began his preaching in Chicago in the 1850s. He led great Christian gatherings, beginning in church halls, but later needing larger venues, eventually using huge circus tents and large stadiums, just as preachers in the 20th Century (like Billy Graham) would similarly use.
Moody preached across America and also took his tent meetings to England & Scotland. His meetings were always well-attended and his Gospel songs (with music composed by his lead-singer, Ira Sankey) were very popular. One of the Moody & Sankey hymn books: ‘Sacred Songs and Solos’ sold 80 million copies in fifty years and remains in print to this day.
We are getting a little closer to the mysterious ‘three words’, but I’m not revealing them yet, because first you must hear Dwight Moody’s account of a church meeting he held in a Chicago church-hall on October 8th 1871. It transformed Moody’s preaching … forever.
This is what Dwight Moody wrote:
“ I had been for five nights preaching on the life of Christ … (but) … on that occasion I consider I made as great a blunder as ever I made in my life … upon that memorable night in October … the Court House bell was sounding an alarm of fire, but I paid no attention to it. You know, we were accustomed to hear the fire-bell often, and it didn’t disturb us much when it sounded. I finished the sermon titled: ‘What shall I do with Jesus?’ and I said to the audience: ‘Now I want you to take the question with you and think over it, and next Sunday I want you to come back and tell me what you are going to do with it.’ What a mistake it seems now”
The Great Fire of Chicago destroyed property & lives that very night.
“Since then I have never dared to give an audience a week to think on their salvation … Now is the accepted time!”… Dwight Moody
When Moody asked his audience to consider the question: “What shall I do with Jesus?”, he allowed them a week to decide. After that disastrous night, he learned a lesson that would not only transform his preaching, but would influence others … maybe even you.
I believe that the lesson learned: ‘Don’t leave it for a week’, could equally apply to ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ and to ‘I’ll do it next week’… ‘I’ll start … then’. These phrases are used by us all in our everyday lives. The lesson that Moody learned, and applied to his preaching, can equally be applied by you and me in our life-journey … whether we are religious or not.
And now …
I can reveal my three words; the words that can change your life. The three words are: ‘DO IT NOW’.
Do It Now:
Every New Year we hear the question: “What resolutions have you made?” Every New Year, almost all the resolutions we make come to nothing. Why?
Could it be that we (perhaps subconsciously) apply ‘I’ll wait ’til tomorrow’ or ‘I’ll start next week’? Well-meaning of course, but with or without a Chicago Fire, we are setting up the strong likelihood of failure. Chances are we’ll not even start.
It’s the ‘Impetus of Today’ that matters; the ‘Now’ moment; the real opportunity for change. “Do It Now” is what will change your life. Not ‘Tomorrow’ … Not ‘Next Week’ … but Now! … DO IT NOW.
Tim Denning, one of Medium’s top writers, once wrote:
It’s almost never the right time to do anything.
You may not feel like it but just get started. You’ll be surprised how quickly your brain can turn on and get started. Some of the best creative ideas are killed because they are not acted upon when they’re thought of.
An idea has power and emotion when it is created. That’s the time you want to put it to good use — not when the idea’s energy has dissipated and you’ve told yourself “I’ll do it later” fifty times in a row.
When would now be a good time? Now is as good a time as any.
When would be a good time … for you?
If you want to change your life or you have an urge to change something, why not decide to change it now? Not tomorrow; not next week; but now.
‘DO IT NOW’ : Three words can transform your life
This story is one of a trilogy of related stories that Fred has written. The other two (with links) are: ‘Pessimism to Optimism’ and ‘I am Blessed’.
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“Three Words Can Transform Your Life” written by Fred: writer on Medium ***** © Fred Ogden 2021 *****
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