VICTORIAN VILLAGE Life Style
however far we may have fallen, we are raised to entire peace with God, if we repent and believe the Gospel. Though before far off, we are made near. Though before enemies, we are made dear children. Old things are passed away, and all things are become new. (2 Cor. 5:17.) The blood of Christ makes us completely clean in God's sight. We may have begun like Augustine, and John Newton, and been ringleaders in every kind of iniquity. But once brought to Christ, we need not doubt that all is forgiven. We may draw near with boldness and have access with confidence. Our sins and iniquities, like those of Mary Magdalene, are remembered no more. Let us learn from the unbelief of the apostles, a useful practical lesson for ourselves. Let us cease to feel surprise when we feel doubts arising in our own heart. Let us cease to expect perfection of faith in other believers. Let us not fail to ask ourselves, as we leave this passage, whether we have risen with Christ, and been made partakers spiritually of His resurrection. This, after all, is the one thing needful. To know the facts of Christianity with the head, and to be able to argue for them with the tongue, will not save our souls. We must yield ourselves to God as those alive from the dead. (Rom. 6:13.) We must be raised from the death of sin and walk in newness of life. This and this only is saving Christianity.
A Quiet Invitation What does it look like to live as someone who has truly been made new? Not perfectly. Not without questions. But with a steady turning of the heart toward what is true. Faith is not always loud or certain. Sometimes it is choosing to trust when clarity hasn’t come yet. Sometimes it is simply continuing—praying, listening, hoping—when the way forward feels unclear. The message of the resurrection is not only something to understand, but something to live. It calls us to leave behind what no longer gives life and to step, even slowly, into something different. Today, consider: y Where am I being invited to trust more deeply? y What am I holding onto that I need to release? y What would it look like to take one small step forward in faith? You don’t need all the answers to begin. Sometimes new life starts quietly—one step, one prayer, one moment of trust at a time.
Commentary by J.C. Ryle
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