Attendance Is Not Enough - J.C. Ryle
There are thousands who go regularly to places of
worship, and think they have done their religious duty, but never carry
away an idea, or receive an impression. Ask them, when they return home
on a Sunday evening, what they have learned, and they cannot tell you a
word. Examine them at the end of a year, as to the religious knowledge
they have attained, and you will find them as ignorant as the heathen.
Let us watch our souls in this matter. Let us take with us to church, not only our bodies, but our minds, our reason, our hearts and our consciences. Let us ask ourselves often, “What have I got from this sermon? What have I learned? What truths have been impressed on my mind?” Intellect, no doubt, is not everything in religion. But it does not follow that it is nothing at all. The heart is unquestionably the main point. But we must never forget that the Holy Ghost generally reaches the heart through the mind. Sleepy, idle, inattentive hearers are never likely to be converted.
Let us watch our souls in this matter. Let us take with us to church, not only our bodies, but our minds, our reason, our hearts and our consciences. Let us ask ourselves often, “What have I got from this sermon? What have I learned? What truths have been impressed on my mind?” Intellect, no doubt, is not everything in religion. But it does not follow that it is nothing at all. The heart is unquestionably the main point. But we must never forget that the Holy Ghost generally reaches the heart through the mind. Sleepy, idle, inattentive hearers are never likely to be converted.
J.C. Ryle, Commentary on Matthew, p. 135
