Daily Devotional
December 23
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:
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. —II Timothy 4:2
Devotional:
First of all, we are not to take up the Word of God for mere recreation, or listen to him merely when we have leisure. This is far from yielding to him that obedience which he desires. Everyone of us must strive to profit. And as God protests that morning and evening his arms are stretched out, not only to receive us, but also to call us afar off, and seeks nothing but to have us under his wings and to govern us, and peaceably to enjoy us; so on our part we must take pains to run to him when he calls us, and cut off all hindrances which might turn us aside.
We see that every man thinks himself exempt if he has any business to do. "Surely I would gladly go to the sermon, but I cannot. I have other business; I must do this, and I must do that." Let us not think that God will take such vanities for payment. Jesus Christ shows us this when he mocks at those who say one has married a wife, another has bought a farm, and another will go to his vineyard or his field. This is very common in men's mouths, but the Son of God who is our Judge shows that he will not reckon with it.
And so when we see the nets laid, and how the devil, when he cannot wholly draw us away from God, seeks to lay such stumbling blocks in our way that we cannot run as speedily as required; let us learn to break those nets and to exhort ourselves, as we see the holy God exhorting us to 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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