After a brief break, here is more from John Calvin. We left off with Calvin exhorting us to forget ourselves and our own interests:
Rather, we are God's. Therefore, let us live and die to Him. We are God's. Therefore, let His wisdom and His will govern all our actions. We are God's. Therefore, let us - in every way in all our lives - run to Him as our only proper end. How far has he progressed who's been taught that he is not his own - who's taken rule and dominion away from his own reason and entrusted them to God. For the plague of submitting to our own rule leads us straight to ruin, but the surest way to safety is neither to know nor to want anything on our own, but simply to follow the leading of the Lord.
Let then our first step be to abandon ourselves, that we may apply all our strength to obedience to God. When I say "obedience," I don't mean giving lip service to God; but rather, being free from the desire of the flesh, turning our minds over completely to the bidding of the Spirit of God. The philosophers are ignorant of this transformation (which Paul calls the "renewing of the mind") even though it constitutes the very beginning of life (Eph. 4:23). They enthrone man's reason alone as ruler, and they think it alone should be listened to. Indeed, they grant and entrust government of conduct to human reason alone. But Christian philosophy, on the other hand, orders human reason to give place - to submit and yield - the Holy Spirit. For it's not now we who live, but Christ who lives and reigns in us (Gal 2:20).
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