Jesus is our Model
Additional Reading — By J. C. Ryle
Mark 1: 35 — 39
Every fact in our Lord's life on earth, and every word which fell from His lips, ought to be deeply interesting to a true Christian. We see a fact and a saying in the passage we have just read, which deserve close attention.
We see, for one thing, an example of our Lord Jesus Christ's habits about private prayer. We are told, that "in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."
We shall find the same thing often recorded of our Lord in the Gospel history. When He was baptized, we are told that He was "praying." (Luke 3: 21.) When He was transfigured, we are told that "as He prayed, the fashion of His face was altered." (Luke 9: 29.) Before He chose the twelve Apostles, we are told that "He continued all night in prayer to God." (Luke 6: 12.) When all men spoke well of Him, and would fain have made him a King, we are told that "He went up into a mountain apart to pray." (Matt. 14: 23.) When tempted in the garden of Gethsemane, He said, "Sit ye here, while I shall pray." (Mark 14: 32.) In short, our Lord "prayed always, and did not faint." Sinless as He was, He set us an example of diligent communion with His Father. His Godhead did not render Him independent of the use of all means as a man. His very perfection was a perfection kept up through the exercise of prayer.
We ought to see in all this the immense importance of private devotion. If He who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," thus prayed continually, how much more ought we who are compassed with infirmity? If He found it needful to offer up supplications with strong crying and tears, how much more needful is it for us, who in many things offend daily?
What shall we say to those who never pray at all, in the face of such a passage as this? There are many such, it may be feared, in the list of baptized people, - many who rise up in the morning without prayer, and without prayer lie down at night,- many who never speak one word to God. Are they Christians? It is impossible to say so. A praying master, like Jesus, can have no prayerless servants. The Spirit of Adoption will always make a man call upon God. To be prayerless is to be Christ-less, Godless, and in the high road to destruction.
What shall we say to those who pray, yet give but little time to their prayers? We are obliged to say that they show at present very little of the mind of Christ. Asking little, they must expect to have little. Seeking little, they cannot be surprised if they possess little. It will always be found that when prayers are few, grace, strength, peace, and hope are small.
We shall do well to watch our habits of prayer with a holy watchfulness. Here is the pulse of our Christianity. Here is the true test of our state before God. Here true religion begins in the soul, when it does begin. Here it decays and goes backward, when a man backslides from God. Let us walk in the steps of our blessed Master in this respect as well as in every other. Like Him, let us be diligent in our private devotion. Let us know what it is to "depart into solitary places and pray."
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