December 14 Daily Devotional

Bible Text:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. —Colossians 3:16

Devotional:

Now let us fall down before the face of our good God, with confession of our faults, praying him to pluck us out of the vain confidence of our fleshly mind, and that we may serve him in such sort that we may be wholly given to him. And seeing it has pleased him to be so gracious to us as to give us his Word for our rule, let us be content to be ordered by it and to be instructed there more and more, and let it be always our goal to be fully built up in him; and in the meantime we may make him offerings and sacrifices both of our souls and bodies.

And let us be consecrated and dedicated to him in such a way that he may dwell in us as in his true temples and that he may reign there, and that his image may shine there; to the end that we may at length be partakers of his immortal glory which he has prepared for us. And let us pray that he may be thus gracious, not unto us only, but to all people and nations of the world. —Sermons

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.