The Full Assurance Of Faith - Part 1

Christians are not perfect in knowledge.

We are not free from ignorance, no, nor from mistake.

We are no more to expect any living man to be infallible, than to be omniscient.

 

The Christians are not free from infirmities, such as weakness or slowness of understanding, irregular quickness or heaviness of imagination.

Other imperfections that we, the Christians, possess are impropriety of language, ungracefulness of pronunciation and other thousand nameless defects, either in conversation or behavior.

From such infirmities as these none are perfectly freed till their spirits return to God.

Neither can we expect till then to be whole freed from temptation.

In this sense there is no absolute perfection on earth.

In what sense are the Christians then perfect?

I am not speaking of babes in Christ, but of adult Christians.

The fullness of time is now come, the Holy Ghost is now given, the great salvation of God is now brought to men by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The kingdom of heaven is now set up on earth.

A Christian is so far perfect, as not to commit sin.

To be continued...

 

This post is part of the Thursday Devotionals series. And it is the first part of The Full Assurance Of Faith - a reflection on the writings of John Wesley. 

Circumcision Of The Heart - Part 2

What is there here, which any man, or woman, of understanding, who believes in Bible, can object to?

What can you deny?

Without flatly contradicting the Scripture.

What retrench?

Without taking from the word of God.

“Here is the sum of the perfect law, the circumcision of the heart. Let the spirit return to God that gave it, with the whole train of its affection, -- Other sacrifices from us he would not, but the living sacrifice of the heart hath he chosen.

Let it be continually offered up to God through Christ, in flames of holy love. And let no creature be suffered to share with him; for he is a jealous God. His throne will he not divide with another; he will reign without rival. Be no design, no desire admitted there, but what has Him for its ultimate object.

This is the way wherein those children of God once walked, who being dead still speak to us: ‘Desire not to live but to praise is name; let all your thoughts, words, and works tend to his glory’. ‘Let your soul be filled with so entire a love to Him that you may love nothing but for his sake’. ‘Have pure intentions of heart, a steadfast regard to his glory in all your actions’.

For then, and not till then, is that ‘mind in us, which was also in Christ Jesus’, when in every motion of your heart, in every word of our tongue, in every work of our hands, we ‘pursue nothing but in relations to him, and in subordination to his pleasure’; when we too neither think, nor speak, nor act, to fulfill ‘our own will, but the will of Him that sent us’; when, ‘whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do’, we do it all ‘to the glory of God’.”

John Wesley

Is there anyone one who can object to this?

Is not this the language, not only of every believer, but of everyone that is truly awakened?

This is the second part of the Circumcision Of The Heart. This post is also part of the Thursday Devotionals series.

You can find the first part here - Circumcision Of The Heart - Part 1

The Circumcision Of The Heart - Part 1

There is no middle ground.

Every part of our lives, not some only, must either be a sacrifice to God, or to ourselves.

Even giving all our lives to God will profit us nothing.

Unless we give our hearts, all our hearts to Him, it is as if we had done nothing.

“The circumcision of the heart… is that habitual disposition of soul which, in the sacred writings is termed ‘holiness’; and which directly implies, the being cleansed from sin ‘from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit’; and, by consequence the being endued with those virtues which were in Christ Jesus the being so ‘renewed in the image of our mind’, as to be ‘perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect’.”

John Wesley

The simplicity of intention and purity of affection are the wings of the soul.

To give everything we speak or do and let Him to rule our tempers is how we can ascend to the mount of God.

It is absolutely impossible to be half a Christian.

Where to find the only standard of truth?

And the only model of pure religion?

“… I began not only to read, but to study, the Bible, as the one, the only standard of truth, and the only model of pure religion.”

John Wesley

It is necessary to have the mind of which is in Christ.

And to walk as Christ also walked.

And not only in many or in most respects, but in all things.

The Christianity is a uniform following of Christ, and entire inward and outward conformity to our Master.

How to find the way of least disconformity to our grand Exemplar?

“’Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment’. It is not only ‘the first and great’ command, but all the commandments in one. ‘Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise’, they are all comprised in this one word, love.

In this is perfection, and glory and happiness: The royal law of heaven and earth is this, ‘Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength’. The one perfect good shall be your one ultimate end. One thing ye shall desire for its own sake, -- the fruition of Him who is all in all.

 One happiness shall ye propose to your souls, even an union with Him that made them, the having ‘fellowship with the Father and the Son’, the being ‘joined to the Lord in one spirit’. One design ye are to pursue to the end of time, – the enjoyment of God in time and in eternity. Desire other things so far as they tend to this; love the creature, as it leads to the Creator. But in every step you take, be this glorious point that terminates the view.

Let every affection, and thought and word, and action, be subordinate to this. Whatever ye desire or fear, whatever ye seek or shun, whatever ye think or speak, or do, be it in order to your happiness in God, the sole end, as well as source, of your being.”

John Wesley

To be continued... 

This post is part of the Thursday Devotionals series.

Wordless Wednesday

This is a picture from my third trip to Peru.

The first and second one I spent in Lima and in Huaraz.

Huaraz is in the Andes and the hotspot of adventure and mountain tourism in Peru.

It is an incredibly beautiful place but in many sense, much wealthier than Peru in general.

In Lima I visited the colonial center and slept in a not-well-to-do neighborhood that the taxi drivers were afraid.

But still, it really wasn't that poor.

The second time we went by car to the northern part of Peru that is mostly desert.

And poor.

It is different to drive around because you get to see things that you wouldn't see on foot, or traveling by bus, or if you were in a tourist group.

It is hard to get by if you don't have water.

The plants die without water, the animals die without water, and finally, the people die without water.

This is a house in one of the little villages in the skirts of the Andes in the Northern-Peru.

  The quote is to remember the people.

And every day try to make decisions that will ensure equality and better distribution of wealth in the world.

It may be little, but it is the best I can do.

And the least they deserve.