Kevin wrote a few weeks ago on why John Calvin’s birthday is still remembered 500 years later. I keep thinking of this:
Calvin’s confidence was in the Word of God, and that’s why his theology and vision of the world continues to capture the minds and hearts of people in the 21st century. That’s why five hundred years later we remember his birth…Strive for relevance in your day, and you may make a difference for a few years. Anchor yourself in what is eternal and you may influence the world for another five centuries.
God's word is smarter, clearer, truer, and speaks to people's deepest needs more than you and I ever could. So try thinking a few less original thoughts and people just might find you relevant in 500 years.
Amen. But what if your confidence is in the Word of God and you’re anchored in what is eternal but you see no difference that you’re making and you see no influence that you’re having? And that’s today. Forget 500 years from now. I’ll bet that’s the case for many of those confident and anchored in God’s Word.
One other reason we remember Calvin is because of how God chose to use who he was in the time God chose for him to live. It was a merging of a man with his times. Calvin was unique but maybe not alone in his uniqueness. Others thru their confidence and anchoring in God’s Word have maybe earned the right to a long living influence, but God has not chosen for them to play a Calvin-like Christendom-shaping role.
If you’re one of those people this can be challenging. You can get the idea that a deep, broad, long-lasting influence is the proof of your anchoring and confidence in God’s Word, and be discouraged. Or you can jump off the cliff on the other side and cite some ministries today as evidence that if you’re big you DON’T have that confidence and anchoring.
Then there’s another view that you probably already have; this view is reclining quietly in a corner of your heart and is hard to hear above the disturbing noise of discouragement and insecurity and doubt. But in a still moment it whispers to you not to despise the times or influence that God has chosen for you. The boundary lines have fallen for you in pleasant places. You cannot force or create your influence and effect and impact. Desiring to influence well is not the same as requiring to see certain evidence of your influence. Faithfulness is your job – use of your faithfulness is his.
This reminds me of another thing I saw, from Ray:
"Let us not dictate to God. Many a blessing has been lost by Christians not believing it to be a blessing, because it did not come in the particular shape which they had conceived to be proper and right. To some the divine work is nothing, unless it assumes the form which their prejudice has selected." -- Jeremiah Lanphier
Oh – another reason we remember Calvin? He wrote down his theology and vision of the world. So did Luther and Spurgeon. If they hadn’t, as godly as they were, would we remember them the same today? And would their influence today be the same?
Comments