I was reading in book I got through Desiring God's 5 dollar book sale called the The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin. It details the lives of three of the most influential men in Church history. I came across a quote by John Calvin that he recorded about a month before he died when he was looking back at his life and reflecting on some of his sins (many believe it was his response to his role in the death of Michael Servetus). It reads:
"With my whole soul I embrace the mercy which [God] has exercised towards me through Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins with the merits of his death and passion, that in this way he might satisfy for all my crimes and faults, and blot them from his remembrance.... I confess I have failed innumerable times to execute my office properly, and had not He, of His boundless goodness, assisted me, all that zeal had been fleeting and vain.... For all these reasons, I testify and declare that I trust to no other security for my salvation than this, and this only, viz., that as God is the Father of mercy, he will show himself such a Father to me, who acknowledge myself to be a miserable sinner."
Calvin knew that only in Christ could He find forgiveness and life. He had a big view of God and small view of man. I pray that my view of God would be ever increasing and my view of myself would continuously decrease.
"With my whole soul I embrace the mercy which [God] has exercised towards me through Jesus Christ, atoning for my sins with the merits of his death and passion, that in this way he might satisfy for all my crimes and faults, and blot them from his remembrance.... I confess I have failed innumerable times to execute my office properly, and had not He, of His boundless goodness, assisted me, all that zeal had been fleeting and vain.... For all these reasons, I testify and declare that I trust to no other security for my salvation than this, and this only, viz., that as God is the Father of mercy, he will show himself such a Father to me, who acknowledge myself to be a miserable sinner."
Calvin knew that only in Christ could He find forgiveness and life. He had a big view of God and small view of man. I pray that my view of God would be ever increasing and my view of myself would continuously decrease.
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