John Wesley kept on preaching God’s good news of salvation everywhere he went. He traveled all over England with this good news and preached over 42,000 times! He found the trips more difficult when he got to be an old man, but at 86 years of age he was still telling sinners of God’s love.
There were times, of course, when John made mistakes. Whenever any man thinks his own thoughts instead of what God’s Word tells us, he will be mistaken. Before John was saved he had read many religious books that were not true because they were the ideas of man and not from the Bible. It seems that John never completely got free of some of the wrong ideas he read in those books. May this be a warning to you, boys and girls, to be careful as to the books you read especially while you are young.
It is also possible that in seeking to tell others about the Saviour John traveled so much that he did not spend as much time as was needed simply studying the Bible. And so if you had expected to read that John Wesley was a perfect servant of God, you will be disappointed. There is only One Man who was perfect, the Lord Jesus. It is useless for you to look for another.
John did, however, serve the Lord faithfully as well as he understood and we would do well to have hearts as willing as his to serve the Lord. If you are not saved, then you need first of all to learn like John that it is not what we do but what Christ has done that gives everlasting life.
If you belong to the Lord Jesus, He also has some work for you to do. Your work may be different from John’s, but, like John, you can seek to do it to the glory of God. “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:3131Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31).