I've just started reading Institutes of the Christian Religion, and it is slow going. It takes a lot of thought because I really want to understand it as well as remember it.
This is the passage which really came to my attention this morning; it's from Book One, chapter 2 "What it is to know God - tendency of this knowledge" (I've made some small changes in the text to make things a wee bit more clear) -
For, first of all, the pious mind does not devise for itself any kind of god, but looks alone to the one true God; nor does it feign for Him any character it pleases, but is contented to have Him in the character in which He manifests Himself, always guarding, with the utmost diligence, against transgressing His will, and wandering, with daring presumption, from the right path.
He by whom God is thus known, perceiving how He governs all things, confided in Him as his guardian and protector, and casts himself entirely upon [God's] faithfulness - perceiving Him to be the source of every blessing, if he is in any strait or feels any want, he instantly recurs to His protection and trusts to His aid - persuaded that [God] is good and merciful, he reclines upon Him with sure confidence, and doubts not that, in the divine clemency, a remedy will be provided for his every time of need - acknowledging Him as his Father and his Lord, he considers himself bound to have respect to His authority in all things, to reverence His majesty, aim at the advancement of His glory, and obey His commands - regarding [God] as a just judge, armed with severity to punish crimes, he keeps the judgment seat always in his view. Standing in awe of it, he curbs himself, and fears to provoke [God's] anger.
The whole point of this section seems to me to be that, the better one knows God - the real and only God - as He has revealed Himself to us in Scripture and the created world, the more one desires to be more like Him. The better I know God, the more I understand His will for me to be holy and righteous like Him. The better I know my Bible, the better I know God, and the better I know HOW God wants me to act, think and worship.
I think a selection from Psalm 25 would be suitable to wrap this up:
Good and upright is the LORD;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.For your name’s sake, O LORD,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who is the man who fears the LORD?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
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