J.C. Ryle: Finding Rest From The Weary Journey

"But have you come to Christ already, and found relief?  Then come nearer, nearer still.  The closer your communion with Christ, the more comfort you will feel.  The more you daily live by the side of the fountain the more you shall feel in yourself 'a well of water springing up into everlasting life' (John 4:14).  You shall not only be blessed yourself, but be a source of blessing to others.

"In this evil world you may not perhaps feel all the sensible comfort you could desire.  But remember you cannot have two heavens.  Perfect happiness is yet to come.  The devil is not yet bound.  There is a good time coming for all who feel their sins and come to Christ, and commit their thirsting souls to His keeping.  When He comes again they will be completely satisfied.  They will remember all the way by which they were led, and see the need-be of everything that befell them.  Above all, they will wonder that they could ever live so long without Christ, and hesitate about coming to Him.

"There is a pass in Scotland called Glencoe, which supplies a beautiful illustration of what heaven will be to the souls who come to Christ.  The road through Glencoe carries the traveler up a long and steep ascent, with many a little turn and winding in its course.  But when the top of the pass is reached, a stone is seen by the wayside with these simple words inscribed upon it: 'Rest, and be thankful.'  Those words describe the feelings with which every thirsting one who comes to Christ will enter heaven.  The summit of the narrow way will at length be ours.  We shall cease from our weary journeyings, and sit in the kingdom of God.  We shall look back on all the ways of our lives with thankfulness, and see the perfect wisdom of every step in the steep ascent by which we were led.  We shall forget the toil of the upward journey in the glorious rest.  Here, in this world, our sense of rest in Christ at best is feeble and partial: we hardly seem at times to taste fully the living water.  But when that which is perfect is one, then that which is imperfect shall be done away.  When we awake up after His likeness we shall be satisfied (Ps. 17:15).  We shall drink out of the river of His pleasures and thirst no more!"  (J.C. Ryle, Holiness)