From J.C. Ryle's Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke
Prayer lies at the very root of our practical Christianity. It is part of the daily business of our religious life. We have reason to thank God, that upon no point has our Lord Jesus Christ spoken so fully and frequently as upon prayer.
Let it never surprise us to see unbelief abounding, both in the church and in the world. The enormous amount of unbelief and hardness on every side may well grieve and pain us. But it ought not to cause surprise.
It is a great thing to believe all the Bible.
Let the truth of the resurrection be often before our minds. Let the life to come be frequently before our thoughts. All is not over when the grave receives its tenant, and man goes to his 'long home'. Other people may dwell in our houses, and spend our money. Our very names may soon be forgotten. But still all is not over! Yet a little time and we shall all live again. "The earth shall cast out the dead." (Isaiah 26:19.)
The single heart is a heart which is not only changed, converted, and renewed; but thoroughly, powerfully, and habitually under the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is a heart which abhors all compromises, all luke-warmness, all halting between two opinions in religion. It sees one mighty object — the love of Christ dying for sinners. It has one mighty aim — to glorify God and do His will. It has one mighty desire, to please God and be commended by Him. Compared with such objects, aims, and desires, the single heart knows nothing worthy to be named.
"One thing I desire-one thing I do — one thing I live for," this is the language of the single heart. (Psalm. 27:4.; Luke 10:42; Philip. 3:13.)
That false charity which calls it "unkind" to say that any one is in error, finds no encouragement in the language used by our Lord.
He calls things by their right names. He knew that acute diseases need severe remedies. He would have us know that the truest friend to our souls, is not the man who is always "speaking smooth things," and agreeing with everything we say, but the man who tells us the most truth.
© Becky Laney of
Operation Actually Read Bible
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