Our encouragement in the Gospel Jump-Start Series this week comes from John Calvin. In his work, A Little Book on the Christian Life, Calvin wrote:
The cross destroys the false notion of our own strength that we’ve dared to entertain, and it destroys that hypocrisy in which we have taken refuge and pleasure. It strips us of carnal self-confidence, and thus humbling us, instructs us to cast ourselves on God alone so that we won’t be crushed or defeated…It’s no little thing to be stripped of our blind self-love and thus to be made aware of our own weakness. Moreover, having been impressed with our own weakness, we learn to despair of ourselves. Then, having despaired of ourselves, we transfer our trust to God. (pgs. 63-4)
In reading those words I am reminded of Isaac Watts hymn line:
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.
As we begin a new week, let’s preach the gospel to ourselves and despair of trusting in self so that we might cling to Christ.
Written by Matt Baker