VANCE HAVNER AND HIS WISDOM

BY W.F. BELL

I have a large picture of Vance Havner hanging on the wall of my study. Evidently taken at his home, he is seated with an open Bible in his hand, with a slight grin. Havner (1901-1986) was like Peter and John, having much "boldness," and also like them, when it was said the religious leaders of their day "took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). An apt description of Havner! How we miss such preachers as this North Carolina prophet. As we note here some of Vance Havner's wisdom, the big question we must ask ourselves is, Does the world take knowledge of us that we too have "been with Jesus"? Combining his country upbringing with his "open Bible," Havner's true wisdom came from "Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (I Corinthians 1:24). May Christ fill our lives with His wisdom also.

SANCTIFIED COMMON SENSE
"The plainest man who is right with God will make decisions by sanctified common sense that PhD's will never arrive at."

RELIGIOUS SHOP-TALK
"When I listen to the shop-talk in religious gatherings, when I watch the scramble for top seats in the synagogue, when I behold the wire-pulling and politicking for posh pastorates, I cannot make the modern tune fit the Bible words."

CHRIST AND CHRISTIANS
"The issue is Christ. Not the Christ of modernism -- that is a false Christ. Not the Christ of party -- simply Jesus Christ Himself. To know Him and to make Him known, that is enough. The New Testament speaks of being called Christians -- there is our name."

AMAZED OR AMUSED?
"Once we stood amazed at worship in the presence of the Lord. Now a generation bred on entertainment wants to sit amused. What was once an experience has become a performance and the church must put on a show."

SPECTATORS, NOT PARTICIPANTS
"Americans are a generation of spectators. They sit, thousands strong, in a football stadium. Then they go to the movies and thrill to the sham of Hollywood. On Sunday some of them go to church, and once again they are spectators before whom the minister is expected to perform. Many of them have no more intention of doing anything about the sermon than they intend to act out the movies. They are spectators, not participants."

CORNBREAD AND MILK
"On the little farm where I grew up we kept a cow and mother milked the cow each late afternoon. The wood thrush was always at his best at that time and mother called him the milking-time bird. How sweet his vespers as I, a hungry little country boy, waited for my supper of cornbread and milk! A lot of water has run under the bridge since then. This young generation never heard of milking time; they know only about milk in cartons."

Precious memories, how they linger!
How they ever flood my soul!