George Müller —A man whose conversion to Christ was dramatic and progressive.

Do you think you were a “bad kid”? Maybe you were, but so was George Müller. Here is a look at his early years:

“His own brief account of his boyhood shows a very bad boy and he attempts no disguise. Before he was ten years old he was a habitual thief and an expert at cheating. In time, card-playing and even strong drink got hold of him. The night when his mother lay dying, her boy of fourteen was reeling through the streets, drunk; and even her death failed to arrest his wicked course or to arouse his sleeping conscience. And—as must always be the case when such solemn reminders make one no better—he only grew worse.” (pgs. 18-19)

Yet God is in the business of rescuing lost sinners and being patient with them, as this account below will show:

“Of course a man that had been so profligate and prodigal must at least begin at conversion to live a changed life. Not that all at once the old sins were abandoned, for such total transformation demands deeper knowledge of the word and will of God than George Müller yet had. But within him a new separating and sanctifying Power was at work. There was a distaste for wicked joys and former companions; the frequenting of taverns entirely ceased, and a lying tongue felt new and strange bands around it.” (pgs. 33-34)

The irony is that most of Müller’s life seems unattainable for the regular Christian (though its not), but this “blip” I can identify with and relate to.

What else can we learn from this “giant” in the faith?

His turning to God is a miracle.

For some reason, many Christians want a testimony like George Müller. This is often seen when someone asked them to share about God’s grace in their life, they almost make an excuse for having a “boring testimony”. Though I understand why people say this, I believe both their understanding of the nature of man and the nature of God is flawed. What God did in the life of George Müller is a miracle. What God does in every Christian is a miracle. All men are sinners (Rom. 3:23). All men are separated from God. All men are “dead in their sins and transgressions” (Eph. 2:1-3) and unable to respond to God. Obviously, the conclusion is all men are doomed. Humanity needs a “miracle”. We need supernatural intervention on our behalf.

Please forgive this tangent, but I am often bothered by the contemporary use of the word “miracle”. An online author illustrates the current use of this profound word. He states:

“The term ‘miracle’ has lost much of its luster in our day. And it isn’t because we see miracles taking place so often that we no longer are sensitive to their meaning. It’s because our speech has evolved in such a way that today that if I got to work on time this morning, I would say, “It was a miracle that I made it, seeing that there was so much traffic on the freeway.”

You may ask, “Why is it a problem to call this act a miracle?” It is a problem…..because it is not a miracle. At least it’s not how the bible defines it. The verse below is a miracle. It is an act that only God can perform.

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Now does a testimony like George Müller’s seem more miraculous because how blind and ‘hell-bound’ he was? From a human standpoint…YES! Does it magnify the grace of God more because (humanly speaking) his conversion to Christ seemed impossible? Again…YES! But remember a dead man is a dead man, no matter how much make-up or how much formaldehyde is pumped into the body. Maybe if we viewed our salvation as more of a miracle, we proclaim a clearer gospel and live differently because of it!

There is NO specific sin or amount of sin that God cannot or will not forgive.

George Müller was a sinner. He was a drunkard. He was sexually immoral. He was a liar and a thief. He deserved spiritual death, which is separation from God forever. Yet God, because of His great love, rescued him and gave him something HE DID NOT DESERVE, which was the gift of salvation and eternal life forever (Rom. 6:23).

For many, the pre-Christian state of George Müller is a comfort, a visual example of ‘how far God will go to save a sinner’. Was he dirty before God? You bet he was. Did the blood of Christ cleanse him of his sins? Yes, it did. I picture Jesus, picking up the broken, humbled, hopeless George Müller and gently washing him clean. I picture Him speaking to him with these tender words, “I paid for that. My sacrifice covers that sin. I will remember your sins no more. I took your place. Trust in me and I will give the rest you were created for.”

As we learn more about George Müller you will see that he never let Jesus put him down. Only the Savior of the World would carry around broken sinners. He carried Müller for 72 years.

Turning to God is hard.

At this point, I need to define the term “conversion”. The act of conversion is a turning to embrace God. In other words, this is the human response to the forensic act of justification and regeneration, being ‘declared righteous in the sight of God’ and receiving a ‘new heart’ (Ezekiel 36:26-27). These are the outward acts that reflect an inner heart change (a change that only God can do). Therefore, conversion, through the eyes of man is often viewed as a process.

The “turning” of George Müller took time. The incredible faith, of which he is known for, was not even a mustard seed during his early years of Christianity. Like all spiritual infants, there were setbacks and failures. One noteworthy example is documented (regarding the discernment of God’s will): 

“He felt unable, however, to dismiss the question, and was so impatient to settle it that he made the common blunder of attempting to come to a decision in a carnal way. He resorted to the lot, and not only so, but to the lot as cast in lap of the lottery! In other words, he first drew a lot in private, and then bought a ticket in a royal lottery, expecting his steps to be guided in a matter so solemn as the choice of a field for the service of God, by the turn of the ‘wheel of fortune’! Should his ticket draw a prize he would go; if not, stay at home. Having drawn a small sum, he accordingly accepted this as a ‘sign’, and at once applied to the Berlin Missionary Society.” (p. 40)

Does this sound familiar? How many times do we stumble? Do we daily wait on God? Often we don’t. The impatience of our hearts convinces us to find a more suitable way, a way that works in our timetable and not God’s.

Yet Müller did slowly “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). The road he travelled is the road every Christian travels. It is the road of self-denial, the active renunciation of the entrapments of this present world. Within four years of his “heart change”, Müller was well down this road. 

Look at the words of his biographer: 

“Within a few years, Müller had learned such advanced lessons in renunciation: burning his manuscript novel, giving up on the girl he loves (nominal Christian), turning his back on the seductive prospect of ease and wealth, cutting loose from dependence on his father (financially and seeking his approval) and then refusing all stated salary lest his liberty of witness be curtailed, and choosing a simple expository mode of preaching, instead of catering to popular tastes (he memorized his first sermon….from another famous preacher).” (p. 62)

To be clear, I am not advocating the method of Müller as a prescription to living a life of “self-denial”. But I am boldly asserting that these “markers” (whatever they are for you in your spiritual journey) are signs of turning to God.

Is there a “marker” that is holding you back from a “life of faith”?