Others in our churches do something for Christ, and know that they are alive, but their whole spiritual system is relaxed. If they take up the hammer and work for God, they strike such feeble blows that the nails do not know it. If they take the spade in their hand to dig in the Master’s vineyard, the weeds laugh them to scorn. They are so exceedingly feeble, and generally so changeable, so fond of new work, and of running after this and that, that they are of little or no real service to the church.
But the strong man in Christ Jesus is one who, if he fights, dashes to pieces the helmet of his foe; and if he wields the sling and the stone, takes care that the stone shall be sent with force enough to go through Goliath’s skull. He is a man who, if he prays, makes the gates of heaven shake and the vaults of heaven to ring. He is a man who, when he pleads with sinners, pleads all over - hands and face, and every muscle revealing his earnestness.... He feels that if religion be worth anything it is worth everything, and he throws his whole being into it - body, soul, and spirit, ardently and to the utmost pitch of energy, being given up to the Master’s cause.
From a sermon entitled "Unto You, Young Men," delivered May 13, 1868. Image by Phillip Capper under Creative Commons License.
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