CQOD: 02/04/06 -- Jenkins: a new puritanism

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 4, 2006

Commemoration of Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189

Meditation:
    I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
    -- Acts 20:33-35 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    The minister is the servant of his people, who has to help them discern for themselves the will of God for their real work in the real world. It will often be his duty, therefore, to establish a certain economy in the internal life of the Church, so that people are released to give time and energy to fulfillment of their Christian duty in the worlds of industry or politics or business or professional life, where their most determinative decisions have to be taken. A new puritanism is urgently needed in most churches, which cuts away ruthlessly from their life all organizations and activities which prevent their members from grappling with their real task.
    ... Daniel Jenkins, The Protestant Ministry [1958]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, bless my church with discernment.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 02/03/06 -- Tauler: a purely negative state

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 3, 2006

Feast of Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg, Missionary to Denmark and Sweden, 865

Meditation:
    Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
    -- Matthew 23:10-12 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Let a man but separate himself from all contingencies and from all works, and there will come over him in this state of emptiness a peace which is very great, lovely, and agreeable, and which is in itself no sin since it is part of our human nature. But when it is taken for a veritable possessing of God, or unity with God, then it is sin, for it is in reality nothing else than a state of thorough passivity and apathy untouched by the power from on high—a purely negative state from which (if one in arrogance calls it divine) nothing follows but blindness, failure of understanding, and a disinclination to be governed by the rules of ordinary righteousness.
    ... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Spirit places me under Your rule.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 02/02/06 -- Pierce: in the midst of suffering

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 2, 2006

THE PRESENTATION OF CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE

Meditation:
    Bless the LORD, O my soul,
        and all that is within me,
        bless his holy name!
    Bless the LORD, O my soul,
        and forget not all his benefits,
    who forgives all your iniquity,
        who heals all your diseases,
    who redeems your life from the pit,
        who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
    who satisfies you with good
        so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
    -- Psalm 103:1-5 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Jesus Christ can so interfere in a human life that it can look up and say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits,” even in the midst of sorrow or suffering.
    ... Bob Pierce, founder and president, World Vision

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, only You can give me the grace to bless You in suffering.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 02/01/06 -- Dibelius: God, our guide and companion

Christian Quotation of the Day

February 1, 2006

Commemoration of Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, c.525

Meditation:
    When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
    -- Acts 14:21-22 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    God does not lead His children around hardship, but leads them straight through hardship. But He leads! And amidst the hardship, He is nearer to them than ever before.
    ... Otto Dibelius (1880-1967)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You go before me into every trial.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 01/31/06 -- Phillips: Judgement and the modern mind

Christian Quotation of the Day

January 31, 2006

Commemoration of John Bosco, Priest, Founder of the Salesian Teaching Order, 1888

Meditation:
    I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
    -- Romans 16:17-18 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Much of today’s Christianity is almost completely earthbound, and the words of Jesus about what follows this life are scarcely studied at all. This, I believe, is partly due to man’s enormous technical successes, which make him feel master of the human situation. But it is also partly due to our scholars and experts. By the time they have finished with their dissection of the New Testament and with their explaining away as “myth” all that they find disquieting or unacceptable to the modern mind, the Christian way of life is little more than humanism with a slight tinge of religion.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Ring of Truth [1967]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I need Your miracles, Your power and strength, for I am weak. Grant that I will never depart from Your word.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 01/30/06 -- Spurgeon: religious luxury

Christian Quotation of the Day

January 30, 2006Meditation:
    Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
    -- James 5:1-5 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Oh, Brethren, it is sickening work to think of your cushioned seats, your chants, your anthems, your choirs, your organs, your gowns, and your bands, and I know not what besides, all made to be instruments of religious luxury, if not of pious dissipation, while ye need far more to be stirred up and incited to holy ardor for the propagation of the truth as it is in Jesus.
    ... C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I confess that I have looked after myself first and ignored the needs of my brother. I pray that You work in me to cure this sickness of my soul.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 01/29/06 -- Lewis: Was Palestine the right choice?

Christian Quotation of the Day

January 29, 2006Meditation:
    But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
    -- Galatians 4:4-5 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    If we once accept the doctrine of the Incarnation, we must surely be very cautious in suggesting that any circumstance in the culture of first-century Palestine was a hampering or distorting influence upon His teaching. Do we suppose that the scene of God’s earthly life was selected at random?—that some other scene would have served better?
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The World’s Last Night, p. 97 [1960]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep me from being seduced by the worldly authorities into doubting Your wisdom in all things.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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CQOD: 01/28/06 -- Neill: the only remedy

Christian Quotation of the Day

January 28, 2006

Feast of Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Teacher of the Faith, 1274

Meditation:
    And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."
    -- Luke 5:29-32 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    This Christian claim [of universal validity] is naturally offensive to the adherents of every other religious system. It is almost as offensive to modern man, brought up in the atmosphere of relativism, in which tolerance is regarded almost as the highest of the virtues. But we must not suppose that this claim to universal validity is something that can quietly be removed from the Gospel without changing it into something entirely different from what it is... Jesus’ life, his method, and his message do not make sense, unless they are interpreted in the light of his own conviction that he was in fact the final and decisive word of God to men... For the human sickness there is one specific remedy, and this is it. There is no other.
    ... Stephen Neill (1900-1984), Christian Faith and Other Faiths [1970]

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to yet deeper repentance.

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See Believer's Desktop Companion 2004
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CQOD Compilation Copyright 2006, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
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