This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled Extreme Devotion, compiled by Voice Of the Martyrs. In the following passage, the account of Susannah Wesley (British mother of John and Charles Wesley) provides us with fodder for reflection and perhaps application:
I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you. (Romans 5:8)
Ten of Susannah’s nineteen children died before they were two years old, and one of her daughters was deformed. Yet, she wrote in her diary that all of her sufferings served to “promote my spiritual and eternal good. Glory be to thee, O Lord.”
Her father had refused to submit to the English law of 1662, which forced all clergymen to obey the Book of Common Prayer. Five thousand of these Christians, called Nonconformists, died in English prisons for their faith.
Her husband, a Nonconformist, remained with the Church of England. For this, his barns were burned, and his own disgruntled congregation had him arrested and sent to prison. Susannah endured terrible poverty during this time. A thief even slashed the udder of the family cow so she would not have milk for her children.
One day, irate parishioners burned their roof. All the family escaped, but six-year-old John was forced to jump from a window. He survived the fall, and this son, John Wesley, grew up to be the founder of the Methodist denomination. Another of her sons, Charles Wesley, wrote the Christmas classic, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” among other memorable hymns.
Susannah Wesley put it simply: “Religion is nothing else than doing the will of God and not our own. Heaven or hell depends on this alone.”
FURTHER: “He has his father’s chin.” “She is the spitting image of her grandmother.” Eyes, ears, hair, hands, or other genetic traits can link us to our family members, sometimes across generations. So, too, are the members of God’s family linked. As Christians, we are connected through various characteristics like love, hope, joy, and peace--all of which come to us directly from our heavenly heritage. Even if we don’t have biological parents or grandparents like the Wesleys who pass down the Christian faith to us, God gives us a spiritual family to nurture and love us. Who is your spiritual mother or father--someone who taught you about Christ? To whom can you be a spiritual brother or sister?
A moment of consideration: Having just experienced what Susannah Wesley had, of the persecution of (Nonconformist) Christians, how might we have responded to such suffering in our lives? Would we have said, “Have Thine Own Way”?
Have Thine own way, Lord, Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way; Have Thine own way;
Wounded and weary, Hold o’er my being
Help me, I pray. Absolute sway.
Power, all power, Fill with Thy Spirit
Surely is Thine, Till all shall see
Touch me and heal me, Christ only, always,
Savior divine. Living in me.
Would we have said, “our sufferings served to ‘promote our spiritual and eternal good. Glory be to thee, Lord’”? Our trials, our suffering for the sake of Christ, have a benefit. For example: terrible poverty, burned roof, livestock maimed, etc. James 1:2-4 says to us to “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” What might we lack, if it were not for trials? We would think that James meant we could find joy in Christ in spite of our trials. That makes more sense! Yet, James really did say – and mean – because of our trials.
While God cares very much about our physical circumstances, James knew He uses trials to refine our faith and make us more like Jesus. That is something to rejoice about! (Romans 5:3-5) In this God works all things for our good and for his glory. (Romans 8:28-29) We lack more joy when we live a life of ease and comfort, though such a life would otherwise be considered an ideal. Trials and suffering seem to run counter to the pursuit of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Yet we are called to a life within Christ, abiding in Him and knowing the liberty afforded us; we are not to pursue situational happiness, per se, but to know persisting joy that comes following and because of our trials.
We read that Susannah and her family were Nonconformists. Clergy and their families who resisted the edicts of the Church of England, had refused to submit to the English law of 1662, which forced all clergymen to obey the Book of Common Prayer, which the Anglican Church had required under penalty of law. Paul’s letter to the church in Rome urged church members likewise to be nonconformists (Romans 12:2); his letter to the church in Colossae warned them against falling captive to the earthly regulations and requirements. (Colossians 2:8). Because John and Charles Wesley’s father as a Nonconformist had remained presiding over a congregation who had been “taken captive”, he was arrested and imprisoned for his effrontery in imposing his beliefs upon them. Conformity to the world can be dangerous if we wish to remain true to Christ.
“Religion is nothing else than doing the will of God and not our own. Heaven or hell depends on this alone.” In this comment, Susannah reflected on her sufferings and her life of loyalty to Christ through them all. She’d learned to trust in Christ through the pain and suffering. She was doing God’s will as Scripture described that to her. Had she chosen to “go with the flow”, to conform to the parishioners’ wishes, she would have had to act contrarily to her lifelong belief in God. In our lives, may we seek to confidently ask that God’s will be done in us; Susannah would have understood this drive, this motivation. It is likely that such motivation guided the lives of John and Charles Wesley, her sons. In the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39) Christ, in praying fervently, spiritually “battled” against God’s will (“If it is possible, let this cup pass from me.”). Yet He resolved this inner conflict and accepted His suffering with joy (“Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”) (Matthew 26:39) We have often, in years past, sung the hymn, “Have Thine Own Way”, as noted above, but its lyrics still speak to us:
Have thine own way, Lord! Mold me and make me
Have thine own way! After Thy will
Thou art the potter, While I am waiting,
I am the clay. Yielded and still.
May we as Christians likewise say, “Not my will, but Yours, O Lord”. Reign within me, reign through me, reign all around me. May we come back to God’s Word, and acknowledge God’s call on our lives: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) Rather, may we set our minds on the things of the Holy Spirit and live according to what the Spirit requires. (Romans 8:5) Romans 8:5-8 suggests that whose who live in the world and who are of the world cannot please God. Let us as nonconformist believers in Christ glorify God in our lives and aim to please Him, even as we express our love for Him. Susannah lived in a different time than we do; yet persecution of Christians is at an all-time high at present. Let’s be faithful to the Lord no matter what comes, abiding in Him--glorifying God, and enjoying him for ever.