Wesley Corpus

Still let thy heart be true to God, Thy words to it, thy actions to them both. I. 1. We may, First, observe what is implied in having our hearts true to God. Does this imply any less than is included in that gracious command, "My son, give me thy heart" Then only is our heart true to God, when we give it to him. We give him our heart, in the lowest degree, when we seek our happiness in him; when we do not seek it in gratifying "the desire of the flesh," -- in any of the pleasures of sense; nor in gratifying "the desire of the eye," -- in any of the pleasures of the imagination, arising from grand, or new, or beautiful objects, whether of nature or art; neither in "the pride of life," -- in "the honour that cometh of men," in being beloved, esteemed, and applauded by them; no, nor yet in what some term, with equal impudence and ignorance, the main chance, the "laying up treasures on earth." When we seek happiness in none of these, but in God alone, then we, in some sense give him our heart. 2. But in a more proper sense, we give God our heart, when we not only seek but find happiness in him. This happiness undoubtedly begins, when we begin to know him by the teaching of his own Spirit; when it pleases the Father to reveal his Son in our hearts, so that we can humbly say, "My Lord and my God;" and when the Son is pleased to reveal his Father in us, by "the Spirit of adoption, crying in our hearts, Abba Father," and "bearing his "testimony to our spirits, that we are the children of God." Then it is that "the love of God also is shed abroad in our hearts." And according to the degree of our love, is the degree of our happiness.