It is a very solemn delusion when ministers think they are prospering, and yet do not hear of conversions.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of genuine spiritual growth over superficial success.
Charles Spurgeon highlights a critical perspective on ministry and spiritual leadership, suggesting that true progress is measured not by outward appearances or worldly achievements, but by the real transformations in people's lives. It serves as a caution against complacency and the false sense of success that can arise when the fruits of one’s labor—namely, conversions or real changes in faith—are absent.
In practice
This quote can be used in a sermon to remind ministers of the importance of focusing on true spiritual outcomes.
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.
A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with.
If an enemy has alliances, the problem is grave and the enemy's position strong; if he has no alliances, the problem is minor and the enemy's position weak.
Contempt for happiness is usually contempt for other people's happiness, and is an elegant disguise for hatred of the human race.
Make tawba not just for sins you've committed, but also for obligations you haven't fulfilled.
I have spent years studying what it means to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless, yet is deeply divided by race.
Sometimes I got my majors mixed up. A number of my fellow religious-studies students - muddled agnostics who didn't know which way was up, who were in the thrall of reason, that fool's gold for the bright - reminded me of the three-toed sloth; and the three-toed sloth, such a beautiful example of the miracle of life, reminded me of God.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.