Prodigal: I don’t know if this will turn out the best.
Me: Don’t worry, I don’t expect perfection and neither does Christ.
Prodigal: Makes me happy to hear that.
This is from the book God Will Make a Way: Stories of Hope
Charles Spurgeon once preached what, in his opinion, was one of his poorest sermons. He stammered and stumbled through it and felt like a complete failure by the sermon’s end. He was greatly humiliated, and when he got home he fell on his knees and cried, “Lord God. Thou canst do something with nothing. Bless that poor sermon.”
All through the week, Spurgeon uttered that prayer about his failure. He awoke in the night and prayed about it. Then he determined that the next Sunday he would redeem himself by preaching a great sermon. Sure enough, the next Sunday the sermon was delivered well and, at the close of the service, people crowed about him and covered him with praise for it. Spurgeon went home pleased with himself, but he later said to himself, “I’ll watch the results of those two sermons.” And he did.
From the one sermon that seemed a failure, he was able to trace forty-one conversions to Jesus Christ. From the magnificent sermon, he was unable to discover a single soul who had been saved.
In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people.
Isaiah 28:5
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
