"The World Is My Parish" -The Life Of John Wesley Series

While a successful minister, his home life was less-than-desirable. Wesley’s marriage was a disaster. It isn’t overstating things to say he and his wife despised each other. Wesley’s wife Mary was jealous of her husband’s popularity, and he in turn neglected her; easy to do with an itinerate ministry. It’s been said that Wesley sacrificed his marriage on the altar of ministry success. He viewed marriage as temporal and God’s Kingdom as eternal, and so he gave his marriage little effort. He was married to his work.

John Wesley’s brother Charles was a remarkable hymn-writer, perhaps the greatest ever; and we continue to sing many of his hymns. The Methodists were known for their joyful, exuberant singing, largely thanks to Charles. He accompanied John in missionary work in Georgia, and then returned to England to serve churches.

John Wesley sought a faith tested and confirmed by experience. He promoted a disciplined commitment to Christ, evident by a transformed life and energized by the Holy Spirit. He said, “I desire plain truth for plain people, and I abstain from philosophical speculations.” His aim was promoting individual holiness by the setting aside of all other affections. He didn’t want people to just go through the motions of Christianity. He urged people: “Don’t be an almost Christian but an altogether Christian.” His personal quest was, in his words: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

Historians believe the spiritual transformation John and Charles Wesley brought to England kept something akin to the French Revolution from occurring there (by the way, they opposed the American Revolution). By the end of his life, Wesley was described as “the best loved man in England.” His last words at 87 years of age capture his determination for God: “The best of all is, God is with us!”

A prayer of John Wesley’s: “I am no longer my own, but Thine. Put me to what Thou will. Let me be employed for Thee or laid aside for Thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal. Thou art mine, and I am Thine.”