John Calvin

John Calvin, in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, brings up a point about our motives when we are faced with sin:

"He restrains himself from sin, not merely from a dread of vengeance, but because he loves and reveres God as his Father, honours and worships him as his Lord, and even though there were no hell, would shudder at the thought of offending Him. See, then, the nature of pure and genuine religion. It consists of faith, united with a serious fear of God, comprehending a voluntary reverence, and producing legitimate worship agreeable to the injunctions of the law."

From Book One, Chapter 2

FYI, Calvin wrote this 1,600 page book as an introduction to his commentaries. Spending most of his life writing exegeting scripture through his commentaries (almost the entire NT and most of the OT), he died mid-sentence in Ezekiel 22 at the age of 55 in excrutiating pain. Often, he would be told to rest and he would reply "Will the Lord come and find me idle?"

He died writing instead of resting.

Praise God for the men and women who devote their life to knowing God through his Word!