it is possible to seek Christ in vain
April 21, 2021•376 words
We learn, for one thing, that it is possible to seek Christ in vain. Our Lord says to the unbelieving Jews, “Ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins.” He meant, by these words, that the Jews would one day seek Him in vain.
The lesson before us is a very painful one. That such a Savior as the Lord Jesus, so full of love, so willing to save, should ever be sought “in vain” is a sorrowful thought. Yet so it is! A man may have many religious feelings about Christ without any saving religion. Sickness, sudden affliction, the fear of death, the failure of usual sources of comfort – all these causes may draw out of a man a good deal of “religiousness.” Under the immediate pressure of these, he may say his prayers fervently, exhibit a strong spiritual feeling, and profess for a season to “seek Christ” and be a different man. And yet all this time his heart may never be touched at all! Take away the peculiar circumstances that affected him, and he may possibly return at once to his old ways. He sought Christ “in vain,” because he sought Him from false motives, and not with his whole heart.
Unhappily this is not all. There is such a thing as a settled habit of resisting light and knowledge, until we seek Christ “in vain.” Scripture and experience alike prove that men may reject God until God rejects them and will not hear their prayer. They may go on stifling their convictions, quenching the light of conscience, fighting against their own better knowledge, until God is provoked to give them over and let them alone. It is not for nothing that these words are written – “Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord” (Proverbs 1:28, 29). Such cases may not be common; but they are possible, and they are sometimes seen. Some ministers can testify that they have visited people on their deathbeds who seem to seek Christ and yet to seek in vain.
—J.C. Ryle, ‘Expository Thoughts on John’