Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Thursday, May 21st. Our host is the President of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. Today – we listen back to a conversation that took place years ago with a man who has spent his life introducing people to their Creator.
And welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us on the Thursday edition. I don’t how many of our listeners know this but every other summer the staff who are a part of Campus Crusade for Christ gather together in Fort Collins, Colorado for a time of training and spiritual challenge and it was during that event six summers ago this coming summer that a there was a phone call that came in the middle of that conference letting us know that Dr. Bill Bright, the founder and the president of Campus Crusade for Christ, had as you’ve said many times he quit breathing this air and started breathing new air. Celestial air, right?
Dennis: Bill was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis. He was literally choking to death over a period of two to three years. A slow lost lung capacity. Of course, Dr. Bright was the founder and president of Campus Crusade for Christ along with his wife, Vonette. He was married for more than 50 years and had two sons. He was used by God around the world in such ways as writing the four spiritual laws which has been translated into nearly every language around the world. Billions of copies of these have been used, The Jesus Film. He’s been used in a mighty way.
We knew he was dying and didn’t have long. So you and I got our recording equipment and we headed off to Orlando just months before he died before that phone call came. We sat in his living room and this really became one of our favorite interviews we’ve ever done. After interviewing really hundreds of guests and doing thousands of interviews this was indeed one of the highest privileges you and I have every had.
Bob: It’s one of those interviews that it’s good to go back and refresh yourself from time to time. One of the questions that you asked Dr. Bright about as we talked with him was about the subject wealth and how you handle money. It’s interesting to talk with him about that because at one point for one moment he was a millionaire. He had won the Templeton Prize for Religion and had received a check for a million dollars. I remember him saying he held it and then he handed it over and used it for international ministry.
Dennis: He really did.
Bob: You wanted to probe him about this subject of handling money and handling wealth and that’s where we pick up the interview today.
Dennis: Bill, you have rubbed shoulders with people who have had enormous wealth in your 81 years of life. You've been a part of seeing people invest literally tens of millions, hundreds of millions, billions of dollars in the kingdom work. What advice would you have for the man, the couple, who really want to use their lives and their wealth for the glory of God?
Bill: Well, first of all, wealth is a gift of God. It all belongs to Him. At best, we are stewards. There is no one who could say, "Look, I've accumulated this vast fortune. I did it with my own ability." Everything is a gift, even the breath which we breathe, and I'm on oxygen 24 hours a day, so I appreciate breath as a gift of God.
But anyone who thinks that they are responsible for their vast wealth is not thinking logically. There are many, many factors that contribute to vast wealth, and so I say to men and women of wealth – live a good life. Enjoy yourself, but you should not be extravagant. You should take care of your wife, or your husband, your children and you should take care of your business enterprise but anything over and above that should be designated while you’re alive to extend the kingdom and to help fulfill the Great Commission. Don't destroy your grandchildren by leaving them large sums of money. Take care of sending them to college or whatever they may need but be sure you do not spoil your children and your grandchildren and future heirs by leaving a trust that will cause them to be lethargic, complacent, and never develop the skills which you've developed because you had to.
Remember, it's all God's money, and you're going to be held accountable in a very real way when you get to heaven, if you make it, and if your money and your wealth and your material possessions are your god, you won't make it.
Bob: Have you seen people leave money to children or grandchildren and that lethargic complacency that you're talking about – have you seen those who were destroyed by …
Bill: … absolutely, absolutely. I think of a tragic situation – a couple came to me one day. They had worked hard together. They had built a fortune. They had one daughter, and she married an atheist who hated God, and they said, "What are we going to do with that money?" I said, "Whatever you do, don't leave it to your daughter and your grandchildren, because he will use it for purposes that are contrary to everything you stand for. Give it away while you're alive. Take care of them in a modest way but don't give that money to your atheistic son-in-law, who wouldn't even allow his children to go to Sunday school.”
Well, their love for their children overruled that, and they left it to the family, and you can imagine what happened to it. It was a tragic situation. They'll be held accountable for this. It's well known that people who inherit large sums of money in their youth generally are not properly motivated to maximize their gifts. So they drift through life, living a life of ease, and they literally become parasites on society. They don’t think clearly any more–bigger homes, bigger cars, a greater opulence and extravagance instead of "Lord, this is all Yours. How can we use it to bring greater glory, greater honor, and greater praise to You."
Bob: Does it seem to you that sometimes those who don't have any spiritual convictions are more generous and more inclined to give? I'm thinking of Ted Turner giving millions of dollars to the United Nations or Bill Gates setting up a foundation for vaccinations around the world. I sometimes wonder if we ought to take a lesson from some of these folks.
Bill: Well, one should never question another's motives – why they give – but there are many tax benefits, many considerations, and I pray that those who God, whether they are believers or not, God uniquely blessed. I think back on my own career as a businessman. I started my business with a modest capital, and because of the influence of two men who were kind of like fathers to me – they had no sons of their own – and they were among the leaders in the whole confection industry. They helped promote my merchandise – Bright's Brandied and Epicurean Foods – whenever people came to their businesses, and they were two of the top men in the nation. They would promote my merchandise, because they liked me, and they liked my merchandise.
I wasn't a believer, but at least one of the men, I know, was a believer. The other one, I'm not sure of, but they helped me tremendously. So, as a kid, in my early 20s, I was experiencing phenomenal success, and yet I can't say I was smart, I was brilliant, I did this, I did that – God arranges all these things, and I was able to succeed in the measure I did because of many factors.
So anyone who is wealthy would have to say, if he thinks clearly, "I had a lot of help from God working through people," and I look back on my own business career; I have to say God orchestrated all these many wonderful things preparing me for the day when I'd be born into His family, and He could show me a whole new way of life.
Dennis: Bill, you're still highly motivated, even at 81 years of age. You're on oxygen 24 hours a day; your lungs are only working at about 40 percent of capacity – what gets you out of bed in the morning?
Bill: Well, my love for Jesus. You know, people ask me "What's the most important thing we could pray for you?" And I always respond, "Pray that I will never leave my first love." Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and, of course, love your neighbor as yourself, love your enemies. So my love for Him and my desire to please Him, to obey Him, He is my Master, my Lord, and I can't think of any activity in which I could be engaged that is more important than pleasing Him.
And, of course, I say all that, including my precious wife. She is the joy and delight of my heart. We've been married over 54 years and all I can do is thank God at what an incredible, wonderful, fantastic wife He has given me – and lover and partner and friend in Vonette, and I encourage every man out there who wants to live a fruitful, wonderful life, to love your wife as Christ loved the church, even if you do it for selfish reasons, and you can't really do it for selfish reasons, because loving your wife has to be supernatural with His enabling, but if you don't have a happy wife, you're not going to have a happy heart. And you need to give attention to your dear, beloved, precious spouse, who is a gift of God until death do us part, and don't ever think of divorce as a way out. You find someone as God has led you to be married, or if He should lead you in the future to be married, remember, obey the Word of God; love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it – and sacrificial living.
Dennis: Bill, Bob and I – and I’m taking our average age together here, because Bob's about to correct me out of this, but we're approximately 30 years behind you in the race.
Bob: I'm a little farther behind than Dennis. I'd just like to make that clear.
Dennis: And it's not that I'm that much older, Bill, than he is …
Bill: … maybe a couple of days.
Dennis: Yeah, a couple of days, a couple of days older than Bob – certainly not more mature, though. But what advice would you have for a man who wants to finish well? I mean, if God grants strength and favor, Bob and I will live another 30 years. What exhortation would you give us, as men, and just to men in terms of how they run the race and end up at the finish line like you are, still sprinting at the end?
Bill: Well, you remember, Paul writes to Timothy – chapter 4, verses 7 and 8 – "I've fought a good fight, I've finished the race, and I've been faithful." I would say the number-one priority – love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that requires time in the Word. You can't live a godly life unless you're taking God's Word in your daily moment by moment. Communicate with God in prayer. Prayer is like breathing. We pray and talk to Him. So love Him, trust Him, obey Him, and in order to all this, you have to know who He is.
So if you have a superficial view of God, you need to begin to study the attributes of God. That's the reason I wrote the book, "God: Discover His Character," three or four years ago, because the average person has a superficial view of God, and you can't love someone you don't know; you can't trust someone you don't know; you can't obey someone you don't know. So the most important thing is to find out who God is, discover his character, and just love, trust, and obey Him.
Bob: You see what Dennis has got in his hand there, don't you?
Bill: I just happened to see that.
Dennis: I have a card that, Bill, you discovered the power of lamination before Bob did, but you laminated a card here that is entitled the name of your book, "God: Discover the Benefits of His Attributes." And on this card, on the front and back, are listed different attributes of God.
Bill: Thirteen attributes.
Dennis: Thirteen attributes, and I'm not going to ask you to name all 13, although I'm confident you could do it.
Bill: I memorized and meditate on them almost every day and night. I wake up in the middle of the night and while I'm going back to sleep, I will run through different ones and just praise the Lord for who He is.
Dennis: Well, what I want you to do, and I was going to ask you this question, anyway, but you've taken me there – out of these 13 what three are the most meaningful?
Bill: They're all important. I can't …
Dennis: … I know they're all important, and I knew you were going to say that, but as you have meditated and have gotten to know God, and as He has revealed Himself to you, could you name three that are closest to you in your walk.
Bill: I wouldn't say three are more important than the rest, but God is sovereign. He rules in the affairs of men and nations. He controls everything. We think we're smart, and we're really dummies compared to Him. After all, look at – study the human eyeball or the corpuscle, or anything about any of His creation, and you realize we're just dummies. So He is sovereign. He lifts up, and He puts down. And then He is love.
Dennis: I'm going to stop you there, because I want to read what you wrote on the card – "Because God is sovereign, that's who He is, I will joyfully submit to His will."
Bill: Yes.
Dennis: So it's more than just an intellectual realization that there is One who rules absolutely.
Bill: I put the word "joyfully" in there especially, because it's not just kind of a duty. God is sovereign, so I'm going to be – I'm just going to resign myself to the fact that He is in charge, and it's going to be a boring drudgery. No, God is in charge, and it's a joyful journey to know that He's in charge. If I didn't know He was in charge, now I'm breathing on oxygen for the last couple of years – I would probably be kind of anxious at times. But God is in charge. Nothing happened. You know, you read Acts 4 – "Nothing happens to you and me that is not with His approval." Satan has no power over us except that which God allows. Everything is filtered through His love.
You have cancer, you have a heart attack, you have a stroke, you have financial problems – what do you do about it? Well, Paul writes, "Rejoice." James writes, "Rejoice. In all things give thanks." Well, you know, one of the greatest lessons I've ever learned, which I learned maybe 40 years or so ago is that all things – give thanks. Rejoice in adversity as well as blessings.
Dennis: And you can do that because you know there is One.
Bill: I know there is a sovereign God. He rules in the affairs, and when I say thank you, even through my tears I'm demonstrating faith, and the scripture says without faith it's impossible to please God. That which is not of faith is sin. The judged shall live by faith. So I'm saying, when I praise God that I'm wearing this tube, breathing oxygen, I'm praising God out of a joyful heart not out of resignation, and then, of course, the love – God's love for me is unconditional. Because God is love, he is unconditionally committed to my well-being and, you know, you could spend an hour talking about the love of God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, no matter how even we sin and grieve Him, His love reaches out to us.
Which brings me to the third attribute, and I hate to leave out any of those 13, and, of course, there are many others – is mercy – because of His mercy. If I confess my sins, He is always faithful and just to forgive me of my sins, because of His mercy.
Dennis: Right. Bill, you mentioned your book, "God: Discover the Benefits of His Attributes." I've lost count of how many books you've written …
Bill: … about a hundred …
Dennis: … you're writing them faster than I can read them. It's over 100 books?
Bill: Over 100 books and booklets.
Dennis: Okay.
Bill: And thousands of articles.
Dennis: Bob gets onto me for asking these questions, but I'm going to ask you – do you have a favorite?
Bill: I would say probably the best book I've ever written is "God: Discover His Character," because it deals with the attributes of God, and you – you know, I've written on the Ten Commandment, living supernaturally in Christ …
Dennis: … you've written about the person of Jesus Christ …
Bill: … the person of Jesus, prayer, on and on and on, but getting to know God, His marvelous attributes, you realize everything else falls into place.
Dennis: that would be my pick and I’ve not read all 100 books. I’m sorry I’m probably fired now as a Campus Crusade staff member.
Bill: (laughter)
Dennis: that would be my favorite of all that you’ve written.
Bob: Well, again, we've been listening to an interview that was recorded just months before Dr. Bill Bright went home. That was six years ago. Did you have a suspicion what his answer to your question would be?
Dennis: I did. I thought that might be what he would say and the reason was he always talked about the character of God. How appropriate to have the reairing of this broadcast, Bob, and to have talked about wealth and money in these days of economic challenge but to conclude around the character of God. It’s really who God is that rescues us from the tyranny of being fearful and worried and angry about present day challenges and shortfalls and what we’ve lost here or there.
It really is who you go back to and who you trust in the midst of this economic challenge and so to talk about God’s character is the most important thing I think we can conclude this broadcast today on.
Bob: After Dr. Bright went to heaven his book Discover God which is about the attributes of God was turned into a series of two Bible studies. The first Bible study takes a look at God being all powerful, God being holy, loving, ever present, absolute truth, merciful.
The second Bible study looks at the fact that God knows everything, He’s righteous. He’s faithful. He’s sovereign. He’s just. He never changes. And these are Bible studies that an individual could go through on his or her own to better understand the character and the nature of God. They would be great studies to go through in a small group setting or great for a parent to take a teenager through a study like this. It’d be great in a home schooling environment or for family devotions.
We’ve got the two volume study, Discover God, in our FamilyLife resource center. I want to encourage our listeners to go familylifetoday.com and get more information about how you can order copies of these studies either to go through on your own or to go through with someone else.
Again, our web site is familylifetoday.com and you can order from us if you would like. Or call toll free 1-800-358-6329. That’s 1-800-FLTODAY. When you contact us someone on the team will let you know how you can get copies of these studies sent to you.
We are very appreciative here at FamilyLife of some friends of the ministry who came to us back last month. They were aware of the fact that FamilyLife has been experiencing challenging times as have many ministries in this economic climate. We are right now about one million dollars behind in donations this year from where we were last year. So these folks came along and said we want to help. What they decided to do was not simply to make a donation but to offer a challenge grant, a matching gift. They agreed that during the month of May they would match every donation we receive on a dollar for dollar basis up to a total of $356,000.
We told them we would come to you our radio listeners and would let you know about this matching gift opportunity and we would pray. We would ask God to make sure we met this matching gift challenge. We’ve been praying and we’ve been letting you know every day here on FamilyLife Today about the matching gift opportunity. We want to ask you if you can make a donation this month of any amount $5, $10, $100, $1000 whatever you can do. Either go online at familylifetoday.com. Call 1-800-FL-TODAY. Make your donation over the phone and know that donation is being matched on a dollar for dollar basis up to our grand total of $356,000. We’ll keep you posted on how we’re doing toward the completion of this matching gift opportunity on FamilyLife Today.
If you can make a donation of any amount go to familylifetoday.com and make it online or call us toll free at 1-800-FL-TODAY make your donation over the phone and again thanks for your support of this ministry. We appreciate your partnership with us.
Tomorrow we’re going to hear how Dr. Bill Bright defines a well lived life. A successful life. I hope you can tune in to hear his answer to that question.
I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team. On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine. We'll see you back next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today.
FamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas. Help for today. Hope for tomorrow.
