I am glad you know when persons are justified. It is a lesson I have not yet learnt. There are so many stony ground hearers, who receive the Word with joy, that I have determined to suspend my judgment till I know the tree by its fruits. That makes me so cautious now, which I was not thirty years ago, of dubbing converts too soon. I love now to wait a little, and see if people bring forth fruit; for there are so many blossoms which March winds you know blow away, that I cannot believe they are converts till I see fruit brought back; it will never do a sincere soul any harm.
— George Whitefield (1714–1770), Erweckungsprediger
Related Bible passage: MAT.7.16
Topics: Wisdom & Understanding, Growth & Character, Faith & Trust
Occasions: For Reflection
George Whitefield
George Whitefield war ein englischer anglikanischer Geistlicher des 18. Jahrhunderts und eine prägende Leitfigur der frühen evangelikalen Erweckungsbewegung in Großbritannien und Nordamerika. Er wurde durch seine rhetorisch kraftvollen Freiluftpredigten bekannt, in denen er mit calvinistischer Prägung die Notwendigkeit der persönlichen Wiedergeburt betonte. Während seine Texte bis heute für missionarischen Eifer stehen, bleibt sein Wirken durch seinen eigenen Sklavenbesitz und seinen Einsatz für die Legalisierung der Sklaverei in Georgia historisch belastet.
All quotes by George Whitefield (38)
A drop of love is worth more than an ocean of reason.
Blaise Pascal
Love keeps no record of wrongs, but bitterness keeps detailed accounts.
Craig Groeschel
The devil is a better theologian than any of us, and he is still a devil.
A.W. Tozer
Discipline is choosing what you want most over what you want now.
Craig Groeschel
Humility is so shy. If you begin talking about it, it leaves.
Tim Keller
Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
C.S. Lewis
Martin Luther