J.C. Ryle has supplied the words for my top resolution for 2016. In his sermon entitled, “Sickness,” he offers the following exhortation:
Let us cleave to Christ more closely,
love Him more heartily,
live to Him more thoroughly,
copy Him more exactly,
confess Him more boldly,
follow Him more fully.
Religion like this will always bring its own reward. Worldly people may laugh at it. Weak brothers may think it extreme. But it will wear well. At even time it will bring us light. In sickness it will bring us peace. In the world to come it will give us a crown of glory that does not fade away.
As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” (1 Thess. 4:3). In 2016, I want to become more like Jesus and less like the world in all I think, feel, say, and do.
A Pilgrim's Friend 