Daily Devotional
October 26
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:
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, —Ephesians 1:18
Devotional:
We clearly perceive how utterly destitute man is of every good, and in want of all the means of salvation. Wherefore, if he seek for relief in his necessities, he must go out of himself, and obtain it from some other quarter.
It has been stated also that the Lord voluntarily and liberally manifests himself in his Christ, in whom he offers us all blessedness instead of our misery, and wealth instead of our poverty; in whom he opens to our view the treasures of heaven, that our faith may be wholly engaged in the contemplation of his beloved Son, that all our expectation may depend on him, and that in him all our hope may rest and be fully satisfied.
This, indeed, is that secret and learned philosophy which cannot be extracted from syllogisms; but is well understood by those whose eyes God has opened, that in his light they may see light.
But since we have been taught by faith to acknowledge that whatever we want for the supply of our necessities is in God and our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom it has pleased the Father all the fulness of his bounty should dwell, that we may all draw from it, as from a most copious fountain, it remains for us to seek in him, and by prayers to implore from him, that which we have been informed resides in him.
Otherwise to know God as the Lord and Giver of every good, who invites us to supplicate him, but neither to approach him nor to supplicate him, would be equally unprofitable as for a man to neglect a treasure disclosed to him buried in the earth. —Institutes, III, xx, i
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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