Can I Feel a Good Hope About My Soul?

There are some people about whom the Bible tells me I ought to feel a good hope. 

• Am I one of these?

Have I found out that I am a guilty sinner? 

• and have fled to Christ by faith for salvation? 
• Have I found out that sin is a miserable and unhappy thing, 
• and do I hate it, 
• and long to be free from its presence altogether?

In myself I see nothing but weakness and corruption, 

• but in the Lord Jesus I can see the very things my soul requires;—
• pardon, peace, light, comfort, and strength. 
• Christ’s blood, Christ’s cross, Christ’s righteousness, Christ’s intercession,—
• Are these the things on which my mind loves to dwell? 

Are my affections now set on things above? 

• Do I care for nothing so much as pleasing God?
• While I live, is my chief desire to live to the Lord? 
• When I die, will my only desire be to die in the Lord?
• After death, will my hope be that I shall be with the Lord?

Is this the state of my soul? 

• Do I know anything of the faith and hope, 
• and affections and experience, just described? 
• Do I find anything in my heart which answers to the account just given?—

If I do, thank God for it,—

• I can feel a good hope about my soul.

Adapted Excerpt From

Startling Questions

J. C. Ryle