Here I found the peace I had long sought in vain; for I was assured my sins were forgiven. Not indeed all at once, but by degrees; not in one moment nor in one hour. For I could not immediately believe that I was forgiven, because of the mistake I was then in concerning forgiveness. I saw not then, that the first promise to the children of God is, “Sin shall no more reign over you;” but thought I was to feel it in me no more from the time I was forgiven. Therefore, although I had the mastery over it, yet I often feared it was not forgiven, because it still stirred in me, and at some times thrust sore at me that I might fall: Because, though it did not reign, it did remain in me; and I was continually tempted, though not overcome.

—Journal 1.121

One of the reasons I love Wesley is because of his honesty. I can often relate his experiences and struggles to my own. Here, he comments on the sense of forgiveness, clearly something he struggled with for many years of his life. As he tells us above, he mistakenly believed that the assurance of forgiveness would rid him of all temptations so that he would never sin again or feel guilt about sins committed. Not so, he discovered.

As Paul reminds us, in Romans and Galatians, as long as we live in our mortal bodies, we are going to be weighed down with them. That is why he sometimes referred to our mortal bodies as “bodies of sin.” I am posting several things from Wesley’s writings today that I hope will help you if you are struggling with guilt over sin. May the Lord use Wesley’s writings to speak to you words of comfort and assurance.