Strength in Weakness

For many preachers, Charles Spurgeon is one who is turned to time and time again. I have recently been reading through a collection of addresses by Spurgeon that have been put together under the title of An All-Round Ministry. Yesterday, I read one of those addresses entitled "Strength in Weakness." It has been one of the best I have read so far and brought great encouragement to me. Here is one segment from that address:

Since we left the college benches, we have seen many strong men. I think I see one sitting down in his study. He has been reading the Reviews and Quarterlies, and a little of the latest modern thought: now he is looking out for a text. He perfectly understands it, whatever it may be. At any rate, if he does not understand it, who does? When he falls upon his text, he interprets it, not at all desiring to know what the men of God who lived before him have said upon it, for they were of a darker age, and he lives in the nineteenth century, that world of wonders, that region of wisdom, that flower and glory of all time. Now you shall see what you shall see when this cultured divine comes forth from his chamber as a giant refreshed with new wine. No dew of the Spirit of God is upon him, he does not require it; he drinks from other fountains. He speaks with astounding power, his diction is superb, his thought prodigious! But he is as weak as he is polished, as cold as he is pretentious; saints and sinners alike perceive his weakness, and by degrees the empty pews confirm it. He is too strong to ask to be strengthened of the Lord, and therefore he is too weak to bless a congregation. He seeks another sphere, and another, and yet another; but in no position is he powerful, for he is too strong in self. His preaching is like a painted fire, no one is either cheered or alarmed by it.

No one can create a mental image quite like Spurgeon. This image of a preaching like a painted fire is certainly powerful. There is so much preaching today just like this. I pray that by the power of God at work in me that my preaching will not be like a painted fire. More fundamentally, I pray that my life as a Christian will not be like a painted fire. I want my life to truly count for Christ. For that to happen, His power must manifest itself in my weakness.

I would encourage you to read the entirety of Spurgeon's "Strength in Weakness" on line at the Spurgeon Archive.