Guard Your Heart
John Wesley was a controversial man through almost all of his ministry life. While most of the conflict he experienced was with mobs determined to break up meetings, another less known conflict was with his earlier close friend, George Whitfield. Both men had been members of the ‘Holy Club”’at Oxford University.
When George Whitfield went to America, he invited Wesley to look after his work in Bristol. The ministry attracted God’s marked blessing and continued to increase. But upon Whitfield’s return to England, these two great men recognised their emphasis in preaching was quite different. Whitfield strongly emphasised the centrality and sovereignty of God in salvation, while Wesley’s emphasis was with man’s free will and responsibility to respond. Both are, of course, part of the gospel message and while each man saw an enormous response of souls to Christ, they thought it better to part company lest their differences harm the ministry. Some of their earlier messages were published to garner support for their cause and ‘prove the point’ against the other. Even when this subsided, the followers of each man kept the debate going with inflated accusations about the other side. But their maturity caused both Wesley and Whitfield to guard their heart from a wrong spirit. When Whitfield died, Wesley was asked if he expected to see him in heaven. “No” he replied. “Do not misunderstand me. George Whitfield was so bright a star in the firmament of God’s glory, and will stand so near the throne, that one like me, who am less than the least, will never catch a glimpse of him.”
We may have differences in emphasis from other Christians and from other churches. But we must always guard our hearts. God still hates pride and He still hates the judgement His people call down on one another when they find others who are different and can’t see it ‘our’ way.
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