Sinclair B. Ferguson

Or, what did you do to your dress?

Or, what did you do to your dress?

It's this strange phenomenon that very small things can spoil the whole, and everybody notices.

It's this strange phenomenon that very small things can spoil the whole, and everybody notices.

And John Newton writes this letter about the spiritual equivalent of this in his fellow Christians.

And John Newton writes this letter about the spiritual equivalent of this in his fellow Christians.

Here are Christians who, in many respects, are admirable.

Here are Christians who, in many respects, are admirable.

But there's one, perhaps only one, characteristic that they have that somehow or another seems to spoil the whole.

But there's one, perhaps only one, characteristic that they have that somehow or another seems to spoil the whole.

And it's not a gross sin.

And it's not a gross sin.

It's just a blotch, like a scratch on the car or a mark on the tie or the dress.

It's just a blotch, like a scratch on the car or a mark on the tie or the dress.

But it is the thing that everybody notices about them and remembers.

But it is the thing that everybody notices about them and remembers.

And it distorts everything.

And it distorts everything.

It seems far bigger, much more prominent than any of their graces or their gifts.

It seems far bigger, much more prominent than any of their graces or their gifts.