May 30 Daily Devotional

Bible Text:

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. —Ephesians 6:12

Devotional:

But you know the admonition which Saint Paul has given on that score, that is, that we have not to fight against flesh and blood, but against the hidden wiles of our spiritual enemy. Wherefore let us not waste our energies upon men, but rather let us set ourselves against Satan.

Therefore, forgetting and pardoning the faults of those whom you may conceive to have been your enemies, apply your whole mind to repel his malice who thus engaged them to their own destruction in setting themselves against you to seek your ruin. This magnanimity will not only be pleasing to God, but it will make you the more loved among men; and I do not doubt that you have such regard to that as you ought.

However you have also to consider that if God has been pleased to humble you for a little while, it has not been without motive. For although you may be innocent in regard to men, you know that before this great heavenly Judge there is no one living who is not chargeable. Thus, then, it is that the saints have honored the rod of God, by yielding their neck and bowing low their head under his discipline.

David had walked very uprightly, but yet he confessed that it had been good for him to be humbled by the hand of God. For which reason, as soon as we feel any chastisement, of whatsoever kind it may be, the first step should be to retire into ourselves, and well to examine our own lives, that we may apprehend those blessings which had been hidden from us; for sometimes too much prosperity dazzles our eyes, that we cannot perceive wherefore God chastises us.

It is but reasonable that we should do him at least as much honor as we would a physician, for it is his to heal our inward maladies, which are unknown to ourselves, and to pursue a course of healing, not according to our liking, but as he knows and judges to be fitting. What is more, it must needs happen sometimes that he makes use of preservative remedies, not waiting till we have already fallen into evil, but preventing it before it comes. —Letter to Protector Somerset

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.

Dr. Joel Beeke, who is editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books, has this to say:

"Calvin shows us the piety of a Reformed theologian who speaks from the heart. Having tasted the goodness and grace of God in Jesus Christ, he pursued piety by seeking to know and do God’s will every day. He communed with Christ, practicing repentance, self-denial, and cross-bearing. Moreover, his theology worked itself out in heart-felt, Christ-honoring piety. The selections of this devotional bear this out, and hopefully will be used by God to direct pious hearts in our own day."

These devotional readings from John Calvin were compiled by John H. Kromminga. Be sure to read his "Introduction" to John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart.