.....warmed

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

2 Peter 1:4 

In 1703, John Wesley was born into the “family business.” Rev. Samuel Wesley was the rector (administrator) of the Anglican church in Epworth, England. John and his younger brother Charles were raised to go into the ministry just as their father had. 

For John, that career path almost didn’t happen. In 1709, when John was still five years old, the rectory where his family lived caught fire and the lad was trapped in an upper bedroom. A parishioner, standing on another man’s shoulders, rescued John from the fire. Later, Wesley would refer to himself as “a brand plucked out of the fire,” quoting Zechariah 3:2. 

In 1720, Wesley became a student at Christ Church college in Oxford, graduating in 1724. He was ordained the following year and eventually served as a parish priest in London. He went to America in 1735, along with Charles, to serve the new settlement in what is today’s state of Georgia, returning two years later. Throughout this period, Wesley often just went through the motions of his religion. 

He saw the Moravians, German pietists, during his voyage to America and marveled at their faith and dedication. He could preach and see people come to faith in Christ, but he lacked assurance of his own salvation.

 

On the evening of May 24, 1738, John Wesley’s life was to change forever. That morning, he’d read the words in 2 Peter 1:4 and noticed similar phrases elsewhere in Scripture. That evening, Wesley attended a meeting in the Aldersgate. At about 8:45 p.m., as the speaker read from Luther’s treatise on the book of Romans, God’s love broke through: “While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” 

Wesley’s pastoral career took a different direction after Aldersgate. He preached personal holiness, brought forward the Arminian teaching that a saved person could be lost, and attracted followers who in turn preached the Wesleyan message throughout England and beyond. The lad literally “plucked out of the fire” lived a life that God used to change the world. 

Reflect: 

How has the desire for holiness affected your life and approach to faith? Find a “great and precious promise” from the Bible and memorize it today.

- doug batchelor