One Sunday in 1642, John Owen went with his cousin to hear a famous preacher, Dr. Edmund Calamy at St. Mary’s Church in London. We might classify John, who was twenty-six at the time, as a seeker in today’s vernacular. While he was a nominal believer, he had no real assurance of God’s presence in his life. Dr. Calamy was absent that Sunday. Instead, a country preacher, who moonlighted as a farmer, served as his substitute. John’s cousin suggested they go down the street to hear another well-known preacher, but John insisted on staying. It was as if something was holding John in his seat. The country preacher spoke on Matthew 8.26, “Why are you so fearful, O you of little faith?” It turned out to be God’s appointed Word for John that day. He felt in that moment liberated and suddenly alive to God.
John Owen (1616-1683) became one of the most influential Puritan preachers in seventeenth century England. He wrote of prayer, “If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. Let this be one aspect of our daily intercession. ‘God, preserve my soul and keep my heart and all its ways so that I will not become entangled.’ When this is true in our lives, a passing temptation will not overcome us. We will remain free while others lie in bondage.” In his classic work, The Mortification of Sin, there is one sentence that stands out above the rest, “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
We join with John Owen in asking God to keep our hearts free from temporal entanglements: