9.05.2012

looking into the sun


seeing as i am taking off of school for now (maybeforeveryippee!), i have some time on my hands. and, seeing as my previous posts have talked about "waiting" being an active pastime, i have decided to take it upon myself to put myself through a "class" of my own making, namely, reading the "institutes of the christian religion" by the beloved john calvin.

today was day one of an 80 day "class". (well. it might end up being longer than that...we'll see!)
chapter 1? "the knowledge of god and of ourselves mutually connected. nature of connection."

yes, i'm giddy about it too!

an excellent way to get started!
here's a couple delicious snipits from the chapter:

//our wisdom, insofar as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.//

//we are accordingly urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God; and, indeed, we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves.//

but how, oh calvin, do we begin to be displeased with ourselves?

//so long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. but should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of being He is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence. so far are those qualities is us, which seem most perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity.//

we are to merely look to heaven, look to our God and Saviour, and there we will find OUR rightful place as sinners before a holy God.

//to this, undoubtedly, the prophet isaiah refers, when he says (isa. 24:23) "the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the lord of host shall reign," i.e. when he shall exhibit his refulgence, and give a nearer view of it, the brightest objects will, in comparison, be covered with darkness.//

 "Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction." (prov.1:5-7)