A saved soul has many sorrows. He has a body like other men – weak and frail. He has a heart like other men – and often a more sensitive one too.
He has trials and losses to bear like others – and often more. He has his share of bereavements, deaths, disappointments, crosses. He has the world to oppose, a place in life to fill blamelessly, unconverted relatives to bear with patiently, persecutions to endure and a death to die. And who is sufficient for these things? What shall enable a believer to bear all this? Nothing but “the consolation there is in Christ.” (Phil. 2:1)
He has trials and losses to bear like others – and often more. He has his share of bereavements, deaths, disappointments, crosses. He has the world to oppose, a place in life to fill blamelessly, unconverted relatives to bear with patiently, persecutions to endure and a death to die. And who is sufficient for these things? What shall enable a believer to bear all this? Nothing but “the consolation there is in Christ.” (Phil. 2:1)
~ J.C. Ryle
The Christian Race & Other Sermons, “Christ is All”, [Moscow, ID: Charles Nolan Publishing, 2002], 380.