Holiness: For the Will of God Is Your Sanctification – 1 Thessalonians 4:3 [Annotated, Updated]

by J.C. Ryle

It will cost him his love of ease. He must take pains and trouble if he intends to run a successful race toward heaven. He must daily watch and be on his guard, like a soldier on the enemy’s ground. He must take heed to his behavior every hour of the day, in every company and in every place, in public as well as in private, among strangers as well as at home. He must be careful with his time, his tongue, his temper, his thoughts, his imagination, his motives, and his conduct in every relation of life. He must be diligent about his prayers, his Bible reading, and his use of Sundays, with all their means of grace. In attending to these things, he may come far short of perfection, but he cannot safely neglect any of them. The soul of the sluggard desires, and attains nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat (Proverbs 13:4). This also sounds difficult. There is nothing we naturally dislike as much as trouble in living our religion.