Do You Want To?

John Wesley : Do You Want To?

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears
will hear a voice behind you, saying, ?This is the
way; walk in it.? Isaiah 30:21
Just as when we get married we surrender a certain lifestyle in favour of another, so too
when we are born again we are invited to surrender our old lifestyle in favour of a new
and better one, the one described in the Sermon on the Mount. The question is, do you
want to live this way? Perhaps your answer is: ?Yes, but how or where do I start?? That is
certainly a spiritually poor way to begin this journey. Draw comfort from the idea that we
don?t have to learn this lifestyle, so much as admit our need and desire for it and then
listen for our Father?s guiding voice.
Commenting on the above verse, Wesley says: ?Thou shalt hear the voice of God's word
and Spirit behind thee - a metaphor borrowed from shepherds, who used to follow their
sheep, and recall them when they go out of the way.? God will follow you and guide you
as you seek to walk in His way.
A little boy came running to his mother, shouting, ?Mother, I am nine feet tall.? His
mother responded, ?Don?t talk such nonsense.? ?But,? he said, ?I really am nine feet tall.
I measured myself.? ?Well, how did you measure yourself?? asked his mother. ?I took off
my shoe and measured myself with that. It is the same size as my foot, and I really am
nine feet.?
When we move from our standard to God?s standard (from our measure to God?s
measure) regarding how we should live, and then seek to walk in it, this wonderful
promise of Isaiah 30:21 can be fulfilled in our lives. In this way God, by His Spirit,
makes us what Jesus teaches us to be.
O do thou always warn my soul of evil near;
When to the right or left I turn,
The voice still let me hear:
?Come back! This is the way! Come back and walk herein!?
O may I hearken and obey, and shun the paths of sin! (296)