J.C. Ryle: If We Are Thirsty We Must Actually Come to Christ

 

What foolishness there is in dying of thirst while standing before a lake of fresh, clean water.  The same can be said for the spiritually lost.  Their souls thirst for something more and they will continue to thirst until they actually come to Christ and drink.  Read these words from J.C. Ryle.

"He that thirsts and wants relief from Christ must actually come to Him.  It is not enough to wish and talk and mean and intend and resolve and hope.  Hell, that dreadful reality, is truly said to be paved with good intentions.  Thousands are yearly lost in this fashion, and perish miserably just outside the harbor.  Meaning and intending they live; meaning and intending they die.  Oh, no!  We must 'arise and come'!  If the prodigal son had been content with saying, 'How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I hope some day to return home,' he might have remained forever among the swine.  It was when he arose and came to his father that his father ran to meet him, and said, 'Bring forth the best robe and put it on him . . . Let us eat and be merry' (Luke 15:20-23).  Like him, we must not only 'come to ourselves' and think, but we must actually come to the High Priest, to Christ.  We must come to the Physician" (Holiness, J.C. Ryle).