Wesley's Question #2

 

 I have been recently asked if I could answer the 19 questions that John Wesley had his bishops ask those wanting to enter the ministry. I believed I could so in taking on that challenge I am going to post my answers. They probably won't be perfect or how you might answer them but they will be mine. Perhaps you might ask yourself how you might answer them. 

2. Are you going on to perfection?

In myself, I cannot move on to perfection (Romans 7), however, when I submit to the power of the Holy Spirit and walk as He would have me I can and do strive to move on to be perfect as Jesus commands (Matthew 5:48).  John says that those who have this hope within them purify themselves. Paul says that we're to crucify the flesh here again there's an expectation to strive toward perfection.

For me, going on towards perfection means giving Jesus my whole heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37) and I would add my body. I am striving to do this work by putting myself in places of accountability, reading scriptures, writing, attending church services and prayer meetings, and other spiritual disciplines which bring my mind and spirit into communion with God.

In the last few years, God has laid upon my heart the need to maintain the body that He is giving me. We are bodies not just spirits. If I'm going to be all that God wants me to be (entirely sanctified), I must maintain, to the best of my ability, the body God gave me. This is one of the more difficult challenges I have faced in my striving toward Christian perfection. However, I trust with God's help and the assistance of family and friends I will see victory also in this area.