‘He that winneth souls is wise.’ Proverbs 11:30

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: 1 Peter 3:1–16

We must school and train ourselves to deal personally with the unconverted. We must not excuse ourselves, but force ourselves to the irksome task till it becomes easy. This is one of the most honourable modes of soul-winning, and if it requires more than ordinary zeal and courage, so much the more reason for our resolving to master it. Beloved, we must win souls; we cannot live and see men damned; we must have them brought to Jesus. So be up and doing, and let none around you die unwarned, unwept and uncared for.

A tract is a useful thing, but a living word is better. Your eye, face and voice will all help. Do not be so cowardly as to give a piece of paper where your own speech would be so much better. I charge you, attend to this for Jesus’ sake. Some of you could write letters for your Lord and Master. To far-off friends a few loving lines may be most influential for good. Be like the men of Issachar, who handled the pen. Paper and ink are never better used than in soul-winning. Much has been done by this method. Could you not do it? Will you not try?

Some of you, at any rate, if you could not speak or write much, could live much. That is a fine way of preaching, that of preaching with your feet—I mean preaching by your life, conduct and conversation. That loving wife who weeps in secret over an infidel husband, but is always so kind to him; that dear child whose heart is broken with a father’s blasphemy, but is so much more obedient than he used to be before conversion; that servant at whom the master swears, but whom he could trust with his purse and the gold uncounted in it; that man in trade who is sneered at as a Presbyterian, but who, nevertheless, is straight as a line and would not be bribed to do a dirty action; these are the men and women who preach the best sermons; these are your practical preachers.

FOR MEDITATION: Christian witness ought to be proactive as well as reactive (Colossians 4:3–6). Deeds may suffice in the first place (1 Peter 3:1–2), but words will be needed sooner or later (1 Peter 3:15). Needless to say, our words and deeds must back each other up.

C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 3), (Leominster, UK: Day One Publications, 2005), 359.