It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. I think he must prefer quality to quantity.

MacDonald contrasts wholehearted, excellent service with the habit of offering God only what is left over after one has spent oneself on other priorities. The image of “dregs” suggests not merely fatigue but the residue of attention and care—work done mechanically, without love or craft. By saying God “must prefer quality to quantity,” he challenges a religious mindset that equates devotion with sheer output or self-exhaustion. The quote implies that spiritual duty is not a license for burnout; rather, it calls for integrity, discernment, and the offering of one’s best—work shaped by reverence and intention, not by depletion.