CQOD: 09/02/06 -- Barclay: redemptive Christianity

Christian Quotation of the Day

September 2, 2006

Commemoration of Martyrs of Papua New Guinea, 1942

Meditation:
    Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
    -- John 3:7-8 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    It is fatally easy to think of Christianity as something to be discussed and not as something to be experienced. It is certainly important to have an intellectual grasp of the orb of Christian truth; but it is still more important to have a vital, living experience of the power of Jesus Christ. When a man undergoes treatment from a doctor, he does not need to know the way in which the drug works on his body in order to be cured. There is a sense in which Christianity is like that. At the heart of Christianity there is a mystery, but it is not the mystery of intellectual appreciation; it the mystery of redemption.
    ... William Barclay (1907-1978), The Gospel of John [1975] (Vol.1), p.123

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, life is a mystery, yet You are there in the midst of it.

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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: 09/01/06 -- Tozer: keeping God in his place

Christian Quotation of the Day

September 1, 2006

Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710

Meditation:
    For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.
    -- John 3:20-21 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    I think that most Christians would be better pleased if the Lord did not inquire into their personal affairs too closely. They want Him to save them, to keep them happy, and to take them off to heaven at last, but not to be too inquisitive about their conduct or services.
    ... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, shine Your light in the darkest places of my life.

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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: 08/31/06 -- Stanley: Bunyan's "dark night"

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 31, 2006

Feast of Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 651
Commemoration of Cuthburga, Founding Abbess of Wimborne, c.725
Commemoration of John Bunyan, Spiritual Writer, 1688

Meditation:
    ... the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.
    -- Matthew 4:16 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    [John Bunyan] had to live through that obscure night—“wide, vast, and lonely”—which fell upon St. John of the Cross before; like him, he knew that grace would enter “the dark caverns where the senses live.” In the meantime, Bunyan tossed to and fro, as it were between heaven and hell. It has been said that he paints too dark a picture of his moral condition when a young man, that he exaggerates his wickedness at this period, and afterwards wrestles with phantoms of his vivid imagination. But spiritual sins, though not so obvious as those that are sensual, may be just as real; and Bunyan’s intensity of feeling and expression arose from the intensity of his spiritual nature
    ... Arthur Stanley (c. 1873-1961)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am not serious enough about my sin. Help me not to treat it lightly.

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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: 08/30/06 -- Underhill: a harmless exercise

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 30, 2006Meditation:
    Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
    -- Psalm 34:13 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    As to deliberate mortifications—I take it you do feel satisfied that you accept fully those God sends. That being so, you might perhaps do one or two little things, as acts of love, and also as discipline. I suggest by preference the mortification of the tongue—as being very tiresome and quite harmless to the health. Careful guard on all amusing criticisms of others, on all complaints however casual or trivial.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, bridle my errant tongue, for the sake of the Gospel.

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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: 08/29/06 -- Grou: the test of love

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 29, 2006Meditation:
    Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
    -- Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    We must not measure the reality of love by feelings, but by results. Feelings are very delusive. They often depend on mere natural temperament, and the devil wrests them to our hurt. A glowing imagination is apt to seek itself rather than God. But if you are earnest in striving to serve and endure for God’s sake, if you persevere amid temptation, dryness, weariness, and desolation, you may rest assured that your love is real.
    ... Jean N. Grou (1731-1803)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to trust You rather than my own feelings.

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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: 08/28/06 -- Augustine: the cure for hostility

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 28, 2006

Feast of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Teacher, 430

Meditation:
    But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
    -- Luke 6:35 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Ye have enemies; for who can live on this earth without them? Take heed to yourselves: love them. In no way can thy enemy so hurt thee by his violence, as thou dost hurt thyself if thou love him not. And let it not seem to you impossible to love him. Believe first that it can be done, and pray that the will of God may be done in you. For what good can thy neighbor’s ill do to thee? If he had no ill, he would not even be thine enemy. Wish him well, then, that he may end his ill, and he will be thine enemy no longer. For it is not the human nature in him that is at enmity with thee, but his sin.
    ... St. Augustine (354-430)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, show me how to love ____ and ____ with Your love.

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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: 08/27/06 -- Wilson: deeds, not words

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 27, 2006

Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387

Meditation:
    ... for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
    -- Ephesians 5:8-10 (ESV)

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Quotation:
    Christianity is pre-eminently the religion of the heart. It does not always ask words, but it always wants work. The motives and not the means are the things on which it passes judgment. And the man who shows by his life that he is not ashamed of the Gospel will assuredly one day find that the Gospel is not ashamed of him. There is much more which might be said, but I refrain. Ere I close, you will let me add my emphasis to the fact that it is in our life and conduct that we must show our devotion to Christ. The silent Gospel reaches further than the grandest rhetoric.
    ... Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)

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Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may You demonstrate Your light in my life.

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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
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
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Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com