To read the memoirs of Thomas Boston is to be struck by the earnestness with which one pastor pursued communion with God.

A typical entry in his Memoir reads like this: “Having allotted the morning entirely for prayer and meditation, some worldly thoughts crept in. . . . In the afternoon I somewhat recovered my forenoon’s loss.”  Vigorous in self-examination was he. One might say, “Don’t you think that kind of puritanical introspection is unhelpful?” Maybe. But I for one would love to see pastors today fall into the “Vigorous” category in their pursuit of God.

Beeke and Pederson say that, for Boston, personal organization was essential to the ministry, so he rose early each Monday morning and devoted hours to prayer and meditation. He was a man of regular prayer and fasting as he sought habitual communion with God. Evidently it didn’t take long for the public to notice his dedication to commune with God, for one biographer said,

When his congregation saw him enter the pulpit on the morning of the Lord’s day, they knew that they were looking into the face of one who had just come forth from intimate communion with God, and who at once was God’s ambassador and their friend.

I want to live like that.