True Holiness is Shown in Small Things

I have begun reading J. C. Ryle’s book Holiness again. I read to chapter four early last year, and I am starting at the beginning again now. Even the preface, written in 1879, contains a lot to think upon. J. C. Ryle wrote that “holiness” meetings that excite religious feelings are only of value if they make people “better husbands and wives and fathers and mothers and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters”.

He questioned the value of these meetings.

“Do those who attend these meetings become more holy, meek, unselfish, kind, good-tempered, self-denying and Christ-like at home? Do they become more content with their position in life, and more free from restless craving after something different from that which God has given them?”

“Above all, do they grow in charity, and especially in charity toward those who do not agree with them in every jot and tittle of their religion?”

J.C. Ryle felt that the meetings did “not promote private home religion, private Bible reading, private prayer, private usefulness and private walking with God.” After all, “it is far easier to be a Christian among singing, praying, sympathising Christians in a public room, than to be a consistent Christian in a quiet, retired, out-of-the-way, uncongenial home.”

These reflections seem all the more pertinent in 2006. Over and over again, the Bible tells us that devotion to Christ is to be evidenced in love for others. It is to be exhibited moment by moment, day after day, year after year. Our religion should show itself in how we speak to a child, our response when a family member asks us to do something, and our tolerance toward Christians who differ with us on non-essential matters. Such moment-to-moment devotion is usually less than exciting, but it results in good fruit. It can only come from always seeking our Holy Sanctifier with a humble heart.