One of John Wesley’s most well known sermons is
The Almost Christian,
based on King Agrippa's response to Paul’s testimony in Acts 26.
“
Almost
thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”
Wesley takes Agrippa’s response and makes a distinction between what he calls the Almost Christian and the Altogether Christian.
The question for us today is:
Which are you? An almost Christian or an altogether Christian?
The distinction lies not in how we describe ourselves, but rather by how we live our lives.
The almost Christian enjoys the trappings and solace of religion but neither seeks nor desires the deep inner transformation God desires for everyone.
What is this inner transformation?
Nothing less than the complete dedication to the love of God expressed through love for neighbor.
This love for neighbor is not mere affection for others.
No, the biblical love for neighbor is shown not by what we say but by what we do.
As it says in the book of James,
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
Be honest with yourself today. Are you an altogether Christian or merely an almost one?
