Climate That Made the Reformation

DAY 1 3/1- The Climate that Made the Reformation 
   “When the time had fully come….”  (Galatians 4:4)

In God’s Providence the Reformation came out of a perfect environment of the moral abuse and power of the papacy at the time, division in the church, decay of feudalism (post crusades) and corresponding rise of nationalism, combined with the rise of the universities, the beginning of the printing press and proliferation of scripture.  But above all of this it was and is a movement of God’s Spirit.  The Reformation does not just change western thinking, but has vastly changed the world.  The Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the rise of science, modern medicine, capitalism and democracy would not have flourished in the West without the Reformation.  These are broad and faith statements, that could be filled with caveats and hiccups of steps backwards that came before forward steps.  Some of these are quite unintended steps (especially the Enlightenment).  In this brief devotional overview, it is not my intent to argue but to make the points that help us understand the Reformation and how it deeply affects our lives today, but especially how we may grow spiritually through thinking of the Reformation and learning from the examples of the Reformers.
 [Pictured is Pope Leo X Medici who instigated indulgences to build St Peter’s]

Prayer: Lord, help me to trust that you will raise us up in your timing and your way. Lord, raise your church up again.