Sadly Mike Plant was away this morning so couldn't give the second lecture on Calvin at the Teesocs Plus course. I had the dubious privilege of filling in and came across a great quote from Calvin on the heart that I thought I would share:
"Its like a man who thinks he has made a fox tame, if he lets it alone for even half a day it returns to its kind . Even so it is with us. We are so wild that although it may seem for a time that we are thoroughly brought home to God, and very well reformed; yet in just the turn of a hand it is all forgotten" - J Calvin I think of friends who have started out following Christ, who have seemed really genuinely changed by the gospel and yet have turned away again and gone back to a lifestyle that denies. It all makes me all too aware of how quickly it can be all turned around. And not only in other people but in my own heart too; how I need Christ to keep control of my heart every moment.
Thoughts of Batman the Dark Knight and "Two-Face" spring to mind. A man who changes from a shining example of bravery and integrity to someone who turns completely the other way. Unlike Two-Face we return to our default position of rebelling against God and going our own way: "wild" in Calvin's words, but like Two-Face the result is horrifying.