Daily Devotional
December 13
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:
And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. —Zechariah 8:21, 22
Devotional:
Faith then only produces its legitimate fruit when zeal is kindled, so that everyone strives to increase the kingdom of God, and to gather the straying, that the Church may be filled. For when anyone consults his own private benefit and has no care for others, he first betrays most clearly his own inhumanity, and where there is no love the Spirit of God does not rule. Besides, true godliness brings with it a concern for the glory of God.
It is no wonder then that the Prophet, when describing true and real conversion, says that each would be solicitous about his brethren, so as to stimulate one another, and also that the hearts of all would be so kindled with zeal for God that they would hasten together to celebrate his glory.
We must observe that the Prophet in speaking of God's worship sets prayer in the first rank, for prayer to God is the chief part, the main thing, in religion. It is indeed immediately added, "and to seek Jehovah." He explains the particular by the general; and in the next verse he inverts the order, beginning with the general.
However the meaning continues the same, for God seeks nothing else but that we should be teachable and obedient,
so as to be prepared to follow wherever he may call us, and at the same time carefully to inquire respecting his will, as we have need of him as our leader and teacher, so that we may not foolishly go astray through winding and circuitous courses; for if we deem it enough to take presumptuously our own say, the effort to seek God will be fruitless.
It must then be observed that God is then only really sought when men desire to learn from his Word how he is to be worshipped. But the Prophet adds prayer here, for the design of the whole truth respecting salvation is to teach us that our life depends on God, and that whatever belongs to eternal life must be hoped for and expected from him. —Commentaries
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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