Daily Devotional
December 06
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:
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. —Romans 14:8
Devotional:
If the account I have heard of the death of your good brother and mine have been the occasion of joy to me, as, indeed, there was good reason for it, you who have known better the whole matter, have, assuredly, far more ample matter for rejoicing, not for that you wished to be deprived of so excellent a companion, on which account both you and I have good ground for regret—all the more that the number of those who in the present day walk constantly in the fear of God is so small and rare, but because of the singular grace which God had conferred upon him, of perseverance in the fear of his name, the faith and patience which he has manifested, and other tokens of true Christianity.
For all that is as a mirror in which we may contemplate the strength wherewith our kind heavenly Father assists his children, and most of all, out of their greatest difficulties. Then, also, we may conclude that his death was indeed happy and blessed, in the face of him and of all his angels.
At the same time, you must reflect that it is a fine example for you, lest it be converted into a testimony against you, to make you inexcusable before God, the great Judge. For inasmuch as he, dying as a Christian, has shown you how you ought to live, it is certain that God would not have such a testimony to be useless.
Know, then, that the death of your brother is as God's trumpet, whereby he would call upon you to serve him alone, and this far more loudly than if your brother had lived ten years longer to exhort you; while, besides, the pious exhortations which he addressed to you are ever sounding in your ears, that his zeal may glow in your hearts, that his earnest and instant prayers may quicken you, to draw you towards him to whom he has been gathered and restored as one of his own. —Correspondence
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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