C.H. Spurgeon – Words of Warning for Daily Living

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April 18

Those Who Take Not Warning
"Well," says another," "but I was so busy, I had so much to do, that I could not
possibly attend to my soul's concerns." What will you say of the man who had so
much to do that he could not get out of the burning house, but was burnt to ashes?
What will you say of the man who had so much to do, that, when he was dying, he
had not time to send for a physician? Why, you will say, "Then he ought not to have
had so much to do." And if any man in the world has a business which causes him to
lose his own soul for want of time, let him lay this question to his heart, "What shall it
profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" But it is false — it is
false — men have got time. It is the want of will, not want of way. You have time, sir,
have you not, despite all your business, to spend in pleasure? You have time to read
your newspaper — have you no time to read your Bible? You have time to sing a
song — have you no time to pray a prayer? Why, you know when farmer Brown met
farmer Smith in the market one day, he said to him, "Farmer Smith, I can't think how
it is you find time for hunting. Why, man, what with sowing and mowing and reaping
and plowing, and all that, my time is so fully occupied on my farm, that I have no time
for hunting." "Ah," said he, "Brown, if you liked hunting as much as I do, if you could
not find time, you'd make it." And so it is with religion; the :reason why men cannot
find time for it is, because they do not like it well enough. If they liked it, they would
find time. And besides, what time does it want? What time does it require? Can I not
pray to God over my ledger? Can I not snatch a text at my very breakfast, and think
over it all day? May I not, even when I am busy in the affairs of the world, be thinking
of my soul, and casting myself upon a Redeemer's blood and atonement? It wants no
time. There may be some time required; some time for my private devotions, and for
communion with Christ; but when I grow in grace, I shall think it right to have more
and more time; the more I can possibly get, the happier I shall be, and I shall never
make the excuse that I have no time.