Happy Birthday Francis Schaeffer!

Ninety-eight years ago today, the late Francis August Schaeffer IV was born in Germantown, PA. It would not be an exaggeration to say that, outside of the Bible, his writings have influenced my thinking more than any other. While reading Colin Duriez’ biography of Schaeffer, I came across a quote that he took from Edith Schaeffer’s book, L'Abri. Typical Schaeffer, his words are at the same time prophetic, convicting and challenging.

We had done quite a lot of thinking and self-examining over the previous few years. It seemed to us that so much of Christianity was being spread by advertising designed to “put across” something, that there was very little genuine recognition of the existence of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. One morning at Chalet Bijou’s breakfast table, Fran had said to me, “Supposing we had awakened today to find everything concerning the Holy Spirit and prayer removed from the Bible—that is, not removed the way liberals would remove it, but that God had somehow really removed everything about prayer and the Holy Spirit from the Bible. What difference would it make practically between the way we work yesterday and the way we would work today, and tomorrow? What difference would it make in the majority of Christians’ practical work and plans? Aren’t most plans laid out ahead of time? Isn’t much work done by human talent, energy and clever ideas? Where does the supernatural power of God have a real place?” Challenged by this, we began to think and look over our own lives and work… and, we asked God to give us something more real in our work of the future.

While Francis and Edith Schaeffer had done much in their lives up until that point, their greatest impact was yet to come. And from that point forward, the impact was produced and generated by the Holy Spirit rather than simply the work of their own hands. The tremendous legacy of Francis Schaeffer was built on what he called “active passivity.”

Lord, may I be so dependent on your Holy Spirit that the work you’ve called me to can only be recognized as His and not a product of my capabilities.

Happy birthday, Francis Schaeffer!