J.C. Ryle’s Practical Religion offers a sanctifying experience for every reader, and an ideal guidebook for fathers. As Christian fathers lead their families, we will reap treasures in pursing the advice and meditations of Ryle. Below are five takeaways specifically written to encourage fathers.
1. Pursue Holiness
“Beware of standing still,” writes Ryle. “The holiest men are always the happiest. Let your aim be every year to be more holy – to know more, to feel more, to see more of the fullness of Christ. Rest upon grace: do not be content with the degree of religion whereunto you have attained. Search the Scriptures more earnestly; pray more fervently; hate sin more; mortify self-will more; become more humble the nearer you draw to your end; seek more direct personal communication with the Lord Jesus, strive to be more like Enoch – daily walking with God; keep your conscience clear of little sins; grieve not the spirit; avoid wrangling and disputes about the lesser matters of religion; lay more firm hold upon those great truths, without which no man can be saved.”
2. Prioritize Prayer
Ryle hits straight and hard: “And of such I say no man or woman can expect to be saved who does not pray.” Prayer must pervade all we do. “Bibles read without prayer, sermons heard without prayer, marriages contracted without prayer, journeys undertaken without prayer, residences chosen without prayer, friendships formed without prayer, the daily act of private prayer itself hurried over or gone through without heart, these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall.”
3. Learn to Love Reading the Bible
“A man must make the Bible his rule of conduct. He must make its leading principles the compass by which he steers his course through life. By the letter or spirit of the Bible, he must test every difficult point and question…He ought not to set his watch by the clock of his neighbor but by the sundial of the Word.” Again, Ryle’s directness sharpens and convicts: “Show me a person who despises Bible reading, or thinks little of Bible preaching, and I hold it to be a certain fact that he is not yet born again…Tell me what the Bible is to a man, and I will generally tell you what he is.”
4. Be a Peacemaker
The importance of charity must take over our hearts and shape our desires. “True charity is not always asking, ‘What are my rights? Am I treated as I deserve? But, how can I best promote peace? How can I do that which is most edifying to others?’” Pursuit of charity brings us closer to Christ. “It will make him kind, unselfish, good-natured, good-tempered, and considerate of others. It will make him gentle, affable, and courteous in all the daily relations of private life, thoughtful of others’ comfort, tender for others’ feelings, and more anxious to give pleasure than to receive.”
5. Spend Your Evening Time Wisely
Ryle cautions Christians in all manner of worldliness and specifically how we allocate our time. “Are you overcoming the world, or are you overcome by it? Do you know what it is to come out from the world and be separate, or are you yet entangled by it and conformed to it?” And many men will find this aphorism convicting: “Tell me how a man spends his evenings, and I can generally tell you what his character is.”
Ryle’s Practical Religion and his even better-known book, Holiness, make for great devotional reading, reminding us that we are broken vessels in need of wise counsel. Bishop Ryle’s words are as practical today as when he wrote them in the mid-1800s.
