Since this is the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birthday, I decided at the beginning of the year that I would follow a reading schedule and complete his Institutes by the end of the year. I am embarrassed...well maybe not so much anymore...to admit that I reneged on that goal about six weeks into the schedule. It wasn't that the book was boring...I really enjoyed the parts I could understand. ;) Oftentimes, I would read a section, then I'd have to reread it, then I'd wonder why he couldn't have said the same thing in about one hundred words. I guess I was wanting a Cliffs Notes version.
All is not lost...Joel and I will be attending the "Calvin for the 21st Century" conference in Grand Rapids in August. I'm hopeful the very gifted slate of speakers will be able to communicate Calvin in 21st century language. In the meantime, I'm reading John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, & Doxology, a collection of nineteen essays by a group of leading Reformed pastors and theologians. Their goal was to faithfully depict the life and teachings of this giant among theologians. They dispel the erroneous caricatures of Calvin and show him to be a humble man with a passionate heart for God. I'd like to share the following quote that challenged me as I read the book today...
"I call 'piety' that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces. For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him - they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him." John Calvin
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