A Man Who Does Not Serve God is Not Really Alive

So long as a man does not serve God with body, soul, and spirit, he is not really alive. So long as he puts the first things last and the last first, buries his talent like an unprofitable servant, and brings the Lord no revenue of honor, so long in God’s sight he is dead. He is not filling the place in creation for which he was intended; he is not using his powers and faculties as God meant them to be used. The poet’s words are strictly true

He only lives, who lives to God,
And all are dead beside.

This is the true explanation of sin not felt, and sermons not believed, and good advice not followed, and the Gospel not embraced, and the world not forsaken, and the cross not taken up, and self-will not mortified, and evil habits not laid aside, and the Bible seldom read, and the knee never bent in prayer. Why is all this on every side? The answer is simple — Men are dead.

—J.C. Ryle
Alive or Dead?

Via: Aaron Armstrong