How to Succeed in the Christian Life

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. HEBREWS 12:1–2

Torrey wrote How to Succeed in the Christian Life for young converts, many of them brought to Christ in his great missions. It is a plain handbook, with chapters on Bible study, prayer, working for Christ and the rest, and some of its counsel has already appeared in this volume. This chapter gathers the rest of it: how to begin, how to confess Christ, how to choose companions and recreations, how to meet persecution, and how to be guided. The title may sound like a self-help manual. The content is nothing of the kind. Success, for Torrey, meant going on with Christ.

Beginning right

“There is nothing more important in the Christian life than beginning right,” Torrey wrote. And he added a comfort: anyone who has begun wrong can begin again, and begin right.

The right beginning is receiving Jesus Christ. To receive Him means to take Him to be to yourself all that God offers Him to be. Torrey named three things. God offers Jesus as our sin-bearer, so that we are forgiven not because of our good works but solely because of His death. He offers Him as our deliverer from the power of sin, a living Saviour able to keep us day by day. And He offers Him as our Lord and Master, to whom we surrender the control of our lives.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. JOHN 1:12

Open confession

The next step is to confess Christ openly.

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. MATTHEW 10:32

Many try to be disciples without letting the world know. No one has succeeded. “To be a secret disciple means to be no disciple at all,” Torrey wrote. And confession is not something done once, at baptism or at the front of a meeting. It is to be constant. In his sermon Heroes and Cowards he preached on the fear of man that is a snare, the snare that catches the young man who takes his first drink because the table laughs at him, and the one that keeps many from confessing Christ.

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. PROVERBS 29:25

The church and companions

Torrey had no patience with the idea that a Christian can do without the church. No Christian, young or old, can succeed without the fellowship of other believers. The church is made of imperfect people and is therefore an imperfect institution, but it is of divine origin, God loves it, and every believer should take his place in it. Those who stand aloof from every church in the hope of a broader fellowship with all believers, he observed, deceive themselves; they miss the help that comes from belonging to one local congregation.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. HEBREWS 10:25

On companions he was realistic and kind. Seek out a few intimate friends who love the Bible, pray and work to bring others to Christ. Do not be troubled that some Christians are more congenial to you than others; God made us so. Spend time with unbelievers in order to win them, but guard against friendships that draw you down.

Amusements

The chapter on amusements shows Torrey at his most time-bound, and also at his most sensible. He did not attempt a list of forbidden pastimes; he said it was neither possible nor necessary. Instead he gave principles. Do not take part in anything you are in doubt about: “Whenever you are in doubt, always give God the benefit of the doubt.” Do nothing you cannot do to the glory of God. Do nothing that will damage your influence with others. Do nothing you cannot pray about, for we should pray before our play as much as before our work. And go nowhere you cannot take Christ with you.

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 1 CORINTHIANS 10:31

Persecution

Torrey warned new Christians plainly that persecution would come. It may not be prison or death, but the world still hates God, and it will find a way to make the loyal follower of Christ pay. Many promising beginnings, he said, had ended here. But persecution rightly received is not a hindrance but a help.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. MATTHEW 5:11–12

Looking unto Jesus and following Him

Torrey counted keeping one’s eyes on Christ as one of the simplest and mightiest secrets of the Christian life. We look to the crucified Christ for pardon and to the risen Christ for daily victory. And we look to Him as our pattern. “No man and no woman, no matter how good, can be safely followed,” he wrote. If we follow any other person, we are more likely to copy his faults than his virtues. Follow Jesus, and do not waste your time criticising others who do not.

Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. JOHN 21:22

Guidance

Finally, Torrey spoke to the many earnest Christians tormented by the question of God’s will. Satan, he said, loves to suggest that something is God’s will when it is not, and then accuse the believer of disobedience. The Christian life is not meant to be a life of anxious rule-keeping but of glad, trusting sonship.

He took his method from James 1:5–7: recognise that you lack wisdom; surrender your will; ask definitely; expect God to guide; and follow step by step. He told of a university student who came to him in July, distressed because he could not discover God’s will for the following summer. Torrey asked whether he knew what to do tomorrow, and in the autumn. He did. Then do that, said Torrey. “All you need to know is the next step.”

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. PROVERBS 3:5–6

There is little in this handbook that needs qualification, apart from its occasional assumptions about particular amusements. Its great strength is that it takes young Christians seriously and gives them something to do.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. If you are unsure whether you began right, settle it today: receive Christ as sin-bearer, deliverer and Lord.

2. Name one setting where you have kept your faith hidden. Resolve to confess Christ there, gently and plainly.

3. If you are not part of a local church, take a definite step towards joining one this month.

4. Test one of your recreations by Torrey’s questions: can I do it to God’s glory? can I pray about it? would I take Christ there?

5. If you are anxious about God’s will for the distant future, ask what the next step is, and take it.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, I receive You as my sin-bearer, my deliverer and my Lord. If I began wrong, let me begin again today, and begin right.

Give me courage to confess You openly, and keep me from the fear of man.

Give me faithful friends, a place among Your people, and recreations I can enjoy in Your presence.

When persecution comes, let me rejoice; when the way is unclear, show me the next step, and help me take it. Amen.