With Calvin in the Theater of God

I am posting this weekend from Minneapolis. The Desiring God National Conference this year focuses on the 500th anniversary of the great reformer's birth. Here is a picture of John Calvin.

It has been a long day (see previous post). I have just come from session one by Julius Kim of Westminster West. He hammered home a theme from his talk I won't soon forget. Calvin was a faith-possessed pilgrim with a singular passion for knowing God and making Him known.

Three words worth remembering whether you are a giant reformer or a small church pastor: pilgrim, passion, and purpose. This world is not our home. We are all, as believers, aliens and strangers in a hostile world (1 Pet. 2:11). Zeal must characterize our lives and ministries (Rom. 12:11). And all must be done for the purpose of glorifying God (1 Cor. 10:31).

Dr Kim closed with thoughts about John Calvin's approach to suffering and how to attain the blessing of God in it. Two things, he said, formed the reformer's approach and counsel for getting blessing in suffering: pray and go to church. Prayer is the means of bringing God's blessing into a suffering saint's life. And God shows up in corporate worship through the preached word and the sacraments.

May we all be faith-possessed pilgrims with singular passion for knowing God through the means of grace and making Him known through our words and works. That's what makes for a life well-lived in the end result.