If we would be sanctified, our course is clear and plain—we must begin with Christ. We must go to him as sinners, with no plea but that of utter need, and cast our souls on him by faith, for peace and reconciliation with God.... If we would grow in holiness and become more sanctified, we must continually go on as we began, and be ever making fresh applications to Christ.

J. C. Ryle

Categorized in : Needs Would Be Soul

It costs something to be a real Christian, according to the standard of the Bible. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, an Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a person in an arm-chair and taking them easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict, in which it costs much to win the victory.

real christian running

Read the Bible daily. Make it part of your everyday business to read and meditate on some portion of God's Word. Gather your manna fresh every morning. Choose your own seasons and hours. Do not scramble over and hurry your reading. Give your Bible the best, and not the worst, part of your time. But whatever plan you pursue, let it be a rule of your life to visit the throne of grace and the Bible every day.

reading morning giving

If we are true Christians, we must not expect everything smooth in our journey to heaven. We must count it no strange thing, if we have to endure sicknesses, losses, bereavements, and disappointments, just like other men. Free pardon and full forgiveness, grace along the way, and glory at the endall this our Savior has promised to give. But He has never promised that we shall have no afflictions.

forgiveness christian god

Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who as a heaven for every body, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and broad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as truly an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and beside the God of the Bible there is no God at all.

snakes idols hands

Our Lord has many weak children in his family, many dull pupils in his school, many raw soldiers in his army, many lame sheep in his flock. Yet he bears with them all, and casts none away. Happy is that Christian who has learned to do likewise with his brethren.

christian children school

Let your Christianity be so unmistakable, your eye so single, your heart so whole, your walk so straightforward, that all who see you may have no doubt whose you are, and whom you serve.

eye doubt heart

We must give up the vain idea of trying to please everybody. That is impossible, and the attempt is a mere waste of time. We must be content to walk in Christ's steps, and let the world say what it likes.

giving-up trying ideas

Walk more closely with God. Get nearer to Christ. Seek to exchange hope for assurance. Seek to feel the witness of the Spirit more closely and distinctly every year. Lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily threatens you. Press towards the mark more earnestly. Fight a better fight, and war a better warfare every year you live. Pray more. Read more. Subdue self more. Love the brethren more. Oh that you may endeavor to grow in grace every year, that the end of your Christian course may be better than the beginning!

fighting christian war

Trials are intended to make us think, to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, to drive us to our knees.

trials world thinking

If you want to find out how much someone loves you, find out how... by J. C. Ryle

If you want to find out how much someone loves you, find out how much they pray for you.

praying want love-you

Do nothing that you would not like God to see. Say nothing you would not like God to hear. Write nothing you would not like God to read. Go no place where you would not like God to find you. Read no book of which you would not like God to say, "Show it to Me." Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like to have God say, "What are you doing?

writing book way

The highest form of selfishness is that of the man who is content... by J. C. Ryle

The highest form of selfishness is that of the man who is content to go to heaven alone.

selfishness men heaven

To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven.

grace prayer heaven

Let us be very careful that we never exalt any minister, or sermon, or book, or friend above the Word of God.

ministers careful book

Except a man be born again, he will wish one day he had never bee... by J. C. Ryle

Except a man be born again, he will wish one day he had never been born at all.

christian wish men

No time is so well spent in every day as that which we spend upon... by J. C. Ryle

No time is so well spent in every day as that which we spend upon our knees.

religious prayer christian

Since Satan can't destroy the gospel, he has too often neutralized its usefulness by addition, subtraction or substitution.

subtraction substitution satan

God does not look at riches, titles, education, or beauty. There is only one thing that God does look at, and that is the soul.

titles soul doe

We must read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure. by J. C. Ryle

We must read our Bibles like men digging for hidden treasure.

digging treasure men

We know but little of true Christianity, if we don't feel a deep concern about the souls of unconverted people.

soul littles people