If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all.
Interpretation
Perfection in any institution is unattainable; we must accept flaws in our pursuit of belonging.
This quote by Charles Spurgeon highlights the idea that if one were to wait for the perfect church—or any perfect institution—before joining, they would be left in a state of perpetual solitude. It emphasizes the importance of community and participation over the unrealistic expectation of finding perfection, reminding us that flaws are inherent in all groups and that the act of joining is a step towards growth and connection.
In practice
During a discussion on finding a place of worship, one might say this quote to encourage open-mindedness.
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 was not, I was, I am not, I care not. (Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo)
All things human hang by a slender thread; and that which seemed to stand strong suddenly falls and sinks in ruins.
Men become cannibals of their own hearts; remorse, regret, and restless impatience usurp the place of more wholesome feeling: every thing seems better than that which is.
Consciousness surely does not depend on language. Babies, many animals, and patients robbed of speech by brain damage are not insensate robots; they have reactions like ours that indicate that someone's home.
and in some of the people of the town and community surrounding it, one of the characteristic diseases of the twentieth century was making its way: the suspicion that they would be greatly improved if they were somewhere else.
A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.
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