It is not great talents God blesses so much as likeness to Jesus.
Interpretation
True greatness comes from emulating the character of Jesus rather than exceptional talents.
This quote by Charles Spurgeon emphasizes that the qualities that make a person truly great are not their natural talents, but rather their ability to reflect and embody the virtues and character of Jesus Christ. It suggests that striving to be like Jesus—through love, humility, compassion, and righteousness—brings one closer to true greatness in life, overshadowing mere talent alone.
In practice
During a church sermon discussing the importance of character over talent.
Amusement should be used to do us good “like a medicine”: it must never be used as the food of the man...Many have had all holy thoughts and gracious resolutions stamped out by perpetual trifling. Pleasure so called is the murderer of thought. This is the age of excessive amusement: everybody craves for it, like a babe for its rattle.
When you see no present advantage, walk by faith and not by sight. Do God the honor to trust Him when it comes to matters of loss for the sake of principle.
It is far easier to fight with sin in public than to pray against it in private.
You will never glory in God till first of all God has killed your glorying in yourself.
After faith comes repentance, or, rather, repentance is faith's twin brother and is born at the same time.
["All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant."] The original Hebrew word that has been translated "paths" means "well-worn roads' or "wheel tracks," such ruts as wagons make when they go down our green roads in wet weather and sink in up to the axles. God's ways are at times like heavy wagon tracks that cut deep into our souls, yet all of them are merciful.
I treasure the memory of the past misfortunes. It has added more to my bank of fortitude.
If you're gonna make connections which are innovative... you have to not have the same bag of experiences as everyone else does.
Confidence is 10 percent hard work and 90 percent delusion.
Alas, we think of ourselves as unique entities-minds unlike any others-and thus we often reject the lessons that the emotional experience of others has to teach us.
When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this - that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked.
I am what I am. I love me! And I don't mean that egotistically - I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it.
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