I feel like I am getting to know Calvin well after reading half of his Institutes in the first half of 2009. He was passionate for the truth and had a deep and genuine love for his Saviour. But he also wasn’t a fan of ceremony and celebrity – so he probably wouldn’t like all the fuss that is made of it being his 500th anniversary today!

We can thank God for giving the church such a wonderfully gifted and intellegent man (with his share of faults). May Calvin inspire us, not to be Calvin-clones, but Christ-disciples, seeing his example as just one of the “great cloud of witnesses” that line the path ahead of us.