J. C. Ryle on “Partnering” with the World

This morning we will be meditating on what Paul meant when he said, “Therefore, do not become partners with them…” As I pondered this sentence over the last few days, I thought of a chapter J. C. Ryle wrote in his book called Holiness (Charles Nowlan, Moscow, 2001). The chapter is about Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and I must say that when I first came upon it I wondered how anyone could write twenty pages on the life of Lot! But to my surprise, it was one of the most helpful and insightful chapters in the book. Here is one of my favorite quotes from it; I hope it blesses you as it has blessed me:

“Make a wrong choice in life—an unscriptural choice—and settle yourself down unnecessarily in the midst of worldly people, and I know no surer way to damage your own spirituality, and to go backward about your spiritual concerns. This is the way to make the pulse of your soul beat feebly and languidly. This is the way to make the edge of your feeling about sin become blunt and dull. This is the way to dim the eyes of your spiritual discernment, till you can scarcely distinguish good from evil, and stumble as you walk. This is the way to bring a moral palsy on your feet and limbs, and make you go tottering and trembling along the road to Zion, as if the grass-hopper was a burden. This is the way to sell the pass to your worst enemy—to give the devil vantage ground in the battle—to tie your arms in fighting—to fetter your legs in running—to dry up the sources of your strength—to cripple your energies—to cut off your own hair, like Samson, and give yourself into the hands of the Philistines, to put out your own eyes, grind at the mill, and become a slave.

“I call on every reader of this paper to mark well what I am saying. Settle these things down in your mind. Do not forget them. Recollect them in the morning. Recall them to memory at night. Let them sink down deeply into your heart. If ever you would be safe from ‘lingering,’ beware of needless mingling with worldly people. Beware of Lot’s choice! If you would not settle down into a dry, dull, sleepy, lazy, barren, heavy, carnal, stupid, torpid state of soul, beware of Lot’s choice!” (185-86)

Striving to partner with Christ rather than the world,(br/> Pastor Charlie