Arise and Come

The hand of a living Redeemer is now held out from heaven; but it may be withdrawn. The Fountain is open now; but it may be soon closed forever. “If any man thirst, let him come and drink” without delay. Though you have been a great sinner, and have resisted warnings, counsel, and sermons, yet come. Though you have sinned against light and knowledge, against a father’s advice, and a mother’s tears, though you have lived for years without a Sabbath, and without prayer, yet come. Say not what you know not how to come, that you do not understand what it is to believe, that you must wait for more light. Will a tired man say that he is too tired to lie down? or a drowning man, that he knows not h ow to lay hold on the hand stretched out to help him? Or the shipwrecked sailor, with a lifeboat alongside the stranded hulk, that he knows not ow to jump in? Oh, case away these vain excuses! Arise and come! The door is not shut. The Fountain is not yet closed. The Lord Jesus invites you. It is enough that you feel thirsting, and desire to be saved. Come: come to Christ without delay. Whoever came to the Fountain for sin and found it dry? Whoever went unsatisfied away?
But have you come to Christ already, and found relief? Then come nearer, nearer still. The closer your communion with Christ, the more comfort you will feel. The more you daily live by the side of the Fountain the more you shall feel in yourself “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). You shall not only be blessed yourself, but be a source of blessings to others.
~ J. C. Ryle