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Examine your own hearts. Do you see there any habit or custom which you know is wrong in the sight of God? If you do, don't delay for a moment in attacking it. Resolve at once to lay it aside. Nothing darkens the eyes of the mind so much, and deadens the conscience so surely, as an allowed sin. It may be a little one, but it is not any less dangerous.
J. C. Ryle
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of self-examination and taking immediate action to correct wrong habits or customs.

J. C. Ryle urges individuals to introspect and identify any habits or behaviors they know are wrong. He highlights that permitting even small sins can cloud one's judgment and dull their conscience, stressing the need for prompt action to eliminate such practices from one's life for spiritual clarity and moral integrity.

Themes

Self-ExaminationWrong HabitsConscienceSinSpirituality

In practice

Example use cases

In a sermon about morality, the pastor quoted Ryle to encourage congregants to confront their sins.

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The minister who keeps back hell from his people in his sermons is neither a faithful nor a charitable man.
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When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this - that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked.
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Those who confine God's love exclusively to the elect appear to me to take a narrow and contracted view of God's character and attributes....I have long come to the conclusion that men may be _x000D_ more systematic in their statements than the Bible, and may be led into grave error by idolatrous veneration of a system
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Never be satisfied with the world's standard of Christianity!
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Sunday morning, before we go to hear the Word of God preached...let us not rush into God’s presence careless, reckless, and unprepared, as if it mattered not in what way such work was done. Let us carry with us faith, reverence, and prayer. If these three are our companions, we will hear with profit, and return with praise.
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