Preservation from God Alone

Here is a short and helpful observation from John Calvin on God-centered faith and perseverance:

“Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You…”

-Psalm 70:4a

"We may infer from this, that our faith is only proved to be genuine when we neither expect nor desire preservation otherwise than from God alone. Those who devise various ways and means of preservation fro themselves in this world, despise and reject the salvation which God has taught us to expect from him alone. What had been said before, those who seek you, is to the same purpose. If any individual would depend wholly upon God, and desire to be saved by his grace, he must renounce every vain hope, and employ all his thoughts towards the reception of his strength" (John Calvin, Heart Aflame, p.165).