Full excerpt from “The Overcoming Life” by D.L

Full excerpt from “The Overcoming Life” by D.L. Moody

“If I wanted to find out whether a Man was a Christian, I wouldn't go to his minister. I would go and ask his wife. I tell you, we want more home piety just now. If a man doesn't treat his wife right, I don't want to hear him talk about Christianity. What is the use of his talking about salvation for the next life, if he has no salvation for this? We want a Christianity that goes into our homes and everyday lives. Some men's religion just repels me. They put on a whining voice and a sort of a religious tone, and talk so sanctimoniously on Sunday that you would think they were wonderful saints. But on Monday they are quite different. They put their religion away with their clothes, and you don't see any more of it until the next Sunday. You laugh, but let us look out that we don't belong to that class.”

There are so many quotes in just this one little paragraph.

“Some men's religion just repels me.” 😳

I would think that would be a haunting sentiment. I think sometimes we present ourselves as so-called ministers of the truth and we go about our business in ways that are both; totally antithetical to the Jesus we proclaim and also seemingly completely honorable to ourselves.

Or this one, updated for the modern day probably reads better as, “They put on a whining voice and a sort of a religious tone, and talk so sanctimoniously on social media that you would think they were wonderful saints. But in real life they are quite different.“

But man, if “If a man doesn’t treat his wife right, I don’t want to hear him talk about Christianity” doesn’t make you do a double-take.

Because here’s the rub, Moody doesn’t say, “I would ask him how he treats his wife.” He says “I would go ask his wife.” Would my wife say I’m the Christian I portray here online? That’s a high bar to pass. Especially with my wife because she is both an excellent judge of character and a person who will tell it to you straight.