Robert Murray McCheyne (1813 – 1843) while only living a brief 30 years turned out to be one of Scotland’s most famous spiritual leaders of the last 200 years. McCheyne clearly was a prodigy teaching himself the Greek alphabet at the age of four. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, McCheyne went on to become a licensed preacher at the age of 22. He was ordained a year later and began his first pastorate at St. Peter’s Church in Dundee, Scotland.
It was at the University of Edinburgh that young Robert developed a passion for reading the Bible, intense prayer, evangelism, and the need for personal holiness. He possessed a remarkable memory and loved to memorize long passages of Scripture. He learned early on as a Christian to rely totally upon the Spirit of God. And it was because of this dependence on the Spirit of God, coupled with a keen intellect, that made his sermons produce a profound effect upon the unconverted as well as leave a deep impression on those in his congregation.
And it was at his church, St, Peter’s, that McCheyne instituted several powerful ministries including a Thursday night prayer meeting that swelled to 800 congregants, a Sabbath school for young children, and a Tuesday night Bible study for older children that often had over 200 students in attendance.
For this great man of God, sadly sickness plagued him during many periods of his life. And it was just when his ministry was peaking that the Lord chose to call him home at age 30; reportedly of typhoid fever. McCheyne was a shining example of how the Lord can use someone greatly when they have a passion for holiness. He was taken from us far too early, yet his legacy will forever be remembered!
Below are many of his most well-known quotes that I pray will inspire you to live your own life of holiness.1
“O believing brethren! What an instrument is this which God hath put into your hands! Prayer moves Him that moves the universe.”
“Affliction brings out graces that cannot be seen in a time of health. It is the treading of the grapes that brings out the sweet juices of the vine; so it is affliction that draws forth submission, weanedness from the world, and complete rest in God. Use afflictions while you have them.”
“The Christian is a person who makes it easy for others to believe in God.”
“When old companions, old lusts, and sins crowd in upon you, and when you feel that you are ready to sink, what can save you, sinking sinner? This alone – I have a high priest in heaven, and he can support in the hour of affliction. This alone can give you peace – I have a high priest in heaven. When you are dying – when friends can do you no good – when sins rise up like specters around your bed – what can give you peace? This – ‘I have a high priest in heaven.’”
“Learn that urgency in prayer does not so much consist in vehement pleading, as in vehement believing. He that believes most the love and power of Jesus will obtain the most in prayer.”
“Christ frequently gives us the desires of our heart, though not at the peculiar time we desired, but a better time.”
“For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ.”
“Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.”
“A great part of my time is spent in getting my heart in tune for prayer. It is the link that connects earth with heaven.”
“You will never find Jesus so precious — as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of the desolation, a rock rising above the storm!”
“How many millions of dazzling pearls and gems are at this moment hid in the deep recesses of the ocean caves. Just so, unfathomable oceans of grace are in Christ for you. Dive and dive again — you will never come to the bottom of these depths!”
“Oh how sweet to work for God all day, and then lie down at night beneath His smile.”
“Joy is increased by spreading it to others.”
“He is altogether lovely. Such infinite majesty, and yet such meekness and grace, and all for sinners, even the chief!”
“To give largely and liberally, not grudging at all, requires a new heart.”
“Let the Holy Spirit fill every chamber of your heart; and so there will be no room for folly, or the world, or Satan, or the flesh.”
“Live near to God, and so all things will appear to you little in comparison with eternal realities.”
“When Christ delays to help His saints now, you think this is a great mystery, you cannot explain it; but Jesus sees the end from the beginning. Be still, and know that Christ is God.”
“A beam of God’s countenance is enough to fill the heart of a believer to overflowing. It is enough to light up the pale cheek of a dying saint with seraphic brightness, and make the heart of the lone widow sing for joy. ”
“When you are reading a book in a dark room, and come to a difficult part — you take it to a window to get more light. In the same way — take your Bibles to Christ.”
“It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.”
1 All of the following quotes are from the websites below:
40 Robert Murray McCheyne Quotes | ChristianQuotes.info
Inspirational Quotes by Robert Murray McCheyne