Consider Your Ways – J.C.Ryle. Part 6

We return to Ryle’s letter, and he moves on from our need of confession and repentance of our coldness and sin, and he discusses our need to ‘abide in Christ’.

2. In the next place, let us all seek to “abide in Christ” more thoroughly than we have hitherto. Christ is the true spring of life in every believer’s soul, the head on which every member depends, the corner stone of all real sanctification. Whenever I see a child of God becoming less holy than he was, I know the secret of it – he is clinging less firmly to Christ than he did. Our root must be right, if our fruit is to abound. Brethren, let us strive after close union and communion with Christ. Let us go to Him oftener, speak with Him more frequently, trust Him more wholly, look to Him more constantly, lean upon Him more entirely. This is the way to go through the wilderness without fainting, and to run the race set before us with patience. Let us live the life of faith in the Son of God. He is the vine, and we are the branches; let all our strength be drawn from Him- separate from Him we can do nothing. He is the Sun of righteousness- let us seek our comfort in Him, and not in our own frames and feelings.

He is the bread of life- let us feed on Him day by day, as Israel on the manna, and not on our own experiences. Let Christ become more and more all things to us! His blood our peace- His intercession our comfort- His word our warrant- His grace our strength- His sympathy our support- His speedy coming our hope. Let others spend their time on new books if they will, let us rather study to learn Christ. We know a little of Christ as our Saviour, but Oh! how small a portion have we seen of the fulness that is in Him! Like the Indians, when America was first discovered, we are not aware of the amazing value of the gold and treasure in our hands. Believe me, if we did but realise the blessedness of free and full forgiveness in Him, we should be men of a different stamp. The man who feels the blood of atonement sprinkled on his conscience- the man who enjoys assurance that he is washed, and justified, and accepted in the Beloved, this is the man who will be holy indeed, this is the man who will bear much fruit. He will labour cheerfully- he will suffer patiently- he will witness confidently- he will press on unflinchingly- he will love warmly.

Redemption is ever fresh upon his mind, and his thought is, “what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?” Brethren, let us cleave to Christ more closely. Let us draw near to the cross. Let us sit at the feet of Jesus. Let us drink into the spirit of the apostle, when he said, “to me to live is Christ.” Let us do this, and we shall grow.