Charles Spurgeon (1831-1897) was preaching strongly and passionately on the necessity of giving up every known sin that blocks true fellowship with God. He was sharing the preaching duties one evening with Rev. Dr. George Pentecost, so he asked his friend to apply the principle he had just addressed in his sermon. George, who did not know Charles smoked cigars, spoke at great length about the sin of cigar smoking. He told the congregation how he had struggled and finally succeeded in giving up this pernicious habit. When George finished, all eyes were on Charles, since his cigar smoking was well known to the congregation. Charles stood and said with a playful smile, “Well, dear friends, you know that some men can do to the glory of God what to other men would be sin. And notwithstanding what Dr. Pentecost has said, I intend to smoke a good cigar to the glory of God before I go to bed tonight.”
Charles Spurgeon was known as the “prince of preachers” in his day. He might be called one of the first mega-church pastors, having served the six-thousand-seat Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for thirty-eight years. While he was roundly criticized by the religious establishment for lacking a formal college education, he was in fact a voracious reader, consuming six books weekly and amassing a library of twelve thousand volumes.
One quality I admire about Charles is his candor in acknowledging his struggle with depression, called “melancholy” in nineteenth-century England and often viewed as a lack of faith. He remarked to his people, “The strong are not always vigorous, the wise are not always ready, the brave are not always courageous and the joyous are not always happy.” A second quote from Spurgeon makes me smile. “Is anyone altogether sane?” he asks. “Aren’t we all a little off balance?” His prayer reminds us not to allow any known sin room to grow in our hearts: