Daily Devotional
September 24
Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin
by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)Reproduced from the OPC Website
Bible Text:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep hefore her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. —Isaiah 53:7
Devotional:
Moreover, we are also exhorted to conform to his example; not that we shall be able to humiliate ourselves perfectly before God, but yet we must force ourselves towards it. I say, that when God is pleased to chastise us and we feel great roughness at his hand, so that it seems as if we are overwhelmed, we must nevertheless keep silence, confessing that God is righteous and fair, and not letting one murmur be heard from our mouths.
Let us glorify God by our silence; even as if we were poor sinners convicted of their crimes and without an excuse.
St. Peter applies the passage like this: when we are afflicted by the hand of God, even persecuted by the hand of men, we must not cease to bear patiently all the injuries done to us: knowing that God wishes to test us, or even to punish us for our faults.
And let us take care not to make frivolous excuses, like many do, who bring forward their infirmity and say that they are too weak and cannot stay quiet while God presses them so straitly. We must therefore be conformed to the Son of God, for he is our mirror and pattern—not, as I have said, that we can have goodness equal to his; but although we cannot come near it, we must strive towards it. —Sermons
John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.
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