We Are Jonah

Fishing for Hearts...

Sunday, December 16, 2007

I have just been reading a little bit of Calvin's commentary on the book of James, and something stuck out at me about the way that our wayward little hearts work...

"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed"

- James 1:14

The words are very striking, — “But every one is tempted (or, seduced) when, by his own lust, he is drawn away, (that is, from what is good,) and is caught by a bait (or, ensnared.)” He is in the first drawn off from the line of duty, and then he is caught by something that is pleasing and plausible, but like the bait, it has in it a deadly hook.

- John Calvin, "Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles" (link)

It would seem that first we are lured away from something, then lured toward something, hmm... Of course! How else could the blessed children of God, who have been shown the immeasurable gift of knowing the love and presence of our Lord, be led away so easily, except by clouding our vision of what we already have in Christ? If, instead, we would see and cherish the ultimate worth of Christ our saviour, our Lord, our meaning, then the deceitfulness of riches and the allure of pleasure would hold nothing for us.

May it be so, Lord. May it be so!

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