Tag: Calvinism

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Providence is seldom early…

I was listening to Pandora as worked yesterday. As I listened a familiar song came on. One of its lines arrested my attention, “providence…[is] seldom early, never late.” Providence is God’s fatherly care and guidance of his children. In a larger sense, it’s God’s rule of the world. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism puts it:

Q. 11. What are God’s works of providence?
A. God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

Providence is God’s action in the world. And so the line takes on special significance when understood in this light. God seldom acts early, but he never acts too late. As you consider your life, your sense of direction and purpose, the challenges that you’re experiencing or those around you are experiencing–take comfort that though God rarely acts early, he never acts late.

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Poetry for Calvinists by Calvinists

poetry

I’ve written that imagination rather than reason is the primary human faculty. I’ve also observed that, as a general rule, conservative reformed Christians distrust the imagination. In my own intellectual journey, C S Lewis (no Calvinist) has been a wonderful guide:

He uses story to powerfully enact his theology in a way that helps it to work deeply into our souls. There’s a limit to how deeply a truth can penetrate us through the mind. Real knowledge, the sort that truly shapes and forms us, comes about through the integration of heart and mind and through enacting and embodying that truth in a physical and sensate way. This is the power of liturgy and ritual*, two good words that are rich with meaning and need to be recaptured by reformed Christians.

If you’re a fan of poetry, you should check out a blog I recently discovered: Calvinist Poets. The blog exists to help facilitate a renewal of poetry in the Reformed tradition:

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I hope you’ll check it out.