Friday 7 June 2013

We are not our own

We are not our own, let not our will or reason, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. 

We are not our own: let us therefore not see it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to our flesh.

We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us therefore forget ourselves and all that it ours.

Conversely, we are God's. Let us therefore live for Him and die for Him. 

We are God's let His wisdom and rule therefore rule all our decisions.

We are God's. Let all the parts of our lives strive towards Him as our lawful goal.

Oh how much has that man profited who, having been taught that he is not his own has taken away reason and rule from his dominion and given it to God! For, as consulting our self-interest is the pestilence that leads to our destruction, so the sole haven of salvation is to be wise in nothing through ourselves but to follow the leading of the Lord alone. 

Calvin's Institutes, 3.7.2

And what a gift of God that we have this leading. When the Bible is open, God speaks. God speaks in, from and through the Bible and shows us the way to go, the way of wisdom, the way that results from the fear of Him, that is the beginning of wisdom.

Sure, the Bible doesn't give us answers for every single question of life, it doesn't tell us who to marry, or what job to work, but, as the drops fill the bucket, we grow in wisdom, and we learn to walk in it's paths, in His paths.

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