Digging Deeper – John Wesley’s Journal

On Sunday, October 24, 1790, the eighty-eight-year-old founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley, recorded his last journal entry:

I explained to a numerous congregation in Spitalfields Church “the whole armor of God.” St. Paul’s, Shadwell, was still more crowded in the afternoon while I enforced that important truth, “one thing is needful”; and I hope many, even then, resolved to choose the better part.

Of course, the “one thing” is a reference to the words of Jesus in Luke 10:42, when He reproves Martha for her worry about many things in contrast to the one thing of importance—an audience with Him. That Wesley’s last sermon would touch on such a text is no surprise; few men in the history of Christianity have been so thoroughly devoted to the priority of evangelism.

As the founder of Methodism and a leading figure in the Great Awakening of the 18th century, Wesley is said to have traveled over 250,000 miles on horseback (the equivalent of ten trips around the earth!), often preaching three or four sermons a day. He was wont to preach on Luke 10:42 frequently, as there are at least fifty references to it throughout his journal (which is freely available online and documents his travels from 1735–1790). It is fitting, therefore, that he ended his ministry in like manner—focused on “the good portion,” in the words of the Savior.

The matter is as important to us as it was to Wesley (and to Mary, of whom it was originally said): are we anxious and troubled about many things, or have we chosen the one necessary thing—spending time with Jesus?