A Saturday night, a communion Sunday, the return of a birthday, the end of the year — all these are seasons that ought to set us thinking and make us look within. Time is flying. Life is fast ebbing away. The hour is daily drawing nearer when the reality of our Christianity will be tested, and it will be seen whether we have built on ‘the rock’ or ‘the sand.’ Surely it becomes us from time to time to examine ourselves and take account of our souls? Do we get on in spiritual things? Do we grow?

J. C. Ryle, Holiness (Carlisle, PA: EP Books, 2011), 81.