Help from Calvin

While reading for class a week ago, I stumbled upon a wonderful excerpt from John Calvin’s The Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life. Founded upon the first two verses in Romans 12, Calvin writes some beautiful truths on self-denial.  It was so refreshing to me, I wanted to pass along the blessing to you.  Below is copied Romans 12:1-2, and then I’ve reproduced the section of Calvin in its entirety. 

      I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

      “If we are not our own, but the Lord’s, it is clear to what purpose all our deeds must be directed. We are not our own, therefore neither our reason nor our will should guide us in our thoughts and actions. We are not our own, therefore we should not seek what is only expedient to the flesh. We are not our own, therefore let us forget ourselves and our own interests as far as possible.

      We are God’s own; to him, therefore, let us live and die. We are God’s own; therefore let his wisdom and will dominate all our actions. We are God’s own; therefore let every part of our existence be directed towards him as our only legitimate goal…

      Oh, how greatly we have advanced when we have learned not to be our own, not to be governed by our own reason, but to surrender our minds to God! The most effective poison to lead us to ruin is to boast in ourselves, in our own wisdom and willpower. The only escape to safety is simply to follow the guidance of the Lord.”

While these may seem to be harsh words, we must understand that we hear them in a culture saturated with a “do-what-we-want-when-we-want” lifestyle.  But Calvin’s words ring true and powerful in our hearts against the backdrop of our feel-good society. Even though we would be tempted by the world around us to see any sort of restraint of personal desires as foolish, we must first realize that we are not our own, but we have been bought with a price (1 Co. 6:19-20).

Therefore, how do we live as God’s people amidst a world full of others telling us that the top priority is to look out for ourselves? That we must pamper ourselves in every facet of life in order to be happy? How do we live with ourselves, as we find within us struggles that are opposite of the Spirit that we have been given (Rom. 7, Gal. 5)? Struggles to perform selfless, gospel-saturated love towards others, when we just want some “me time”?

How? We must, by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, rip ourselves from our idols of self-absorption and the temptations thereof, and bring ourselves to the foot of the throne of the Almighty, who knows no equal, and there, at the base of His glory-filled throne, call upon Him to cause us to remember those truths which our brother Calvin has laid down for us here – that we are not our own, but we are solely His by the blood of the Lamb, and that we must interpret life and live life by that measure. Oh, how gloriously freeing and wonderful it is to live in that truth, instead of the lies of our flesh and this present evil age! Let us only and always live in Your world, Father, and not a world of our own making!