CQOD: 09/04/07 -- Adams: seeing Jesus in you

Christian Quotation of the Day

September 4, 2007

Commemoration of Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester (Oxon), Apostle of Wessex,

650

Meditation:
    [Jesus:] If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.
    -- John 15:18-21 (NIV)

---

Quotation:
    If all you have found [in Christianity] is advantage, whether it is fun or profit or security, then you haven’t started following Him yet. His way is the way of the Cross. The world can be very hard on those it hates. If it is not hard on you, perhaps it sees nothing in you to hate. But then it doesn’t see Jesus in you, for it hates Jesus with an undying hatred. While your way is still all fun, all easy, all jolly, it is only your way: when you turn from it to follow His way, it will cost. It may cost you everything you have. That is what it cost Him.
    ... Robert MacColl Adams (1913-1985), “Of Rice and Men”

    For the entire essay, see http://www.cqod.com/cqodrma2.htm

---

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart to overcome the world's hatred.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com

CQOD: 09/03/07 -- Manley: unity in the Spirit

Christian Quotation of the Day

September 3, 2007

Feast of Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, Teacher, 604

Meditation:
    I [Paul] am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name.
    -- 1 Corinthians 1:14,15 (NIV)

---

Quotation:
    The task is not, in essence, the securing of uniformity, or cooperation, or Church reunion, or any of the external forms, through which nevertheless the unity may be manifested. Within the wide bounds of the Christian Church there is abundant scope for the multiplicity of races, languages, and social conditions; room also for separate organizations with different traditions of faith and order, and much diversity of operation. But there is no room for strife or hostility, for pride or self-assertion, for exclusiveness or unkind judgments, nor for that kind of independence which leads men to ignore their fellowship with the great company of believers, the communion of saints. These things are contrary to the revealed will of God, and should be made at once to cease. As these disappear, the outward manifestation of unity will come in such ways as the Spirit of God shall guide.
    ... G. T. Manley, Christian Unity [1945]

---

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make sure I follow no party but You alone.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com

CQOD: 09/02/07 -- Allen: the need for Jesus

Christian Quotation of the Day

September 2, 2007

Commemoration of Martyrs of Papua New Guinea, 1942

Meditation:
    If we [Peter and John] are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is "the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone." Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
    -- Acts 4:9-12 (NIV)

---

Quotation:
    The apostles were moved, not so much by an intellectual apprehension, as by a spiritual illumination. They met men, and the need of those men whom they met cried aloud to them. Their own desire for the revelation of the glory of Jesus in the salvation of men went out towards those whom they met, and was immediately answered by the recognition of the need of those whom they met for Jesus Christ.
    ... Roland Allen (1869-1947), Pentecost and the World [1917]

---

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me sensitive to people's need for Christ.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com

CQOD: 09/01/07 -- Kates: you and heaven

Christian Quotation of the Day

September 1, 2007

Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710

Meditation:
    May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
    -- Romans 15:13 (NIV)

---

Quotation:
    The purpose of religion—at any rate, the Christian religion—is not to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you.
    ... Frederick Ward Kates (b.1920)

---

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are my hope.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com

CQOD: 08/31/07 -- Bunyan: mutual refreshment

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 31, 2007

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:
    You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
    -- Galatians 5:13,14 (NIV)

---

Quotation:
    Christians are like the flowers in a garden, that have each of them the dew of Heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other’s roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other.
    ... John Bunyan (1628-1688)

---

Quiet time reflection:
    Bless you, Lord, for the precious brothers and sisters You have given me.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com

CQOD: 08/30/07 -- Bell: Christianity and America

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 30, 2007Meditation:
    Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God. I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
    -- Psalm 50:7-10 (NIV)

---

Quotation:
    As for what the Church thinks and says, what influence does that have on the handling of American politics, the conduct of American education, the regulation of marriage and divorce, on sex and drink, on how industrial disputes are settled, on how we carry on business? As a plain matter of fact, religion in this country is generally regarded as a tolerated pastime for such people as happen to like to indulge in occasional godly exercises—as a strictly private matter in an increasingly close-knit and socially acting society—in other words, as something that does not count. I should like to see the Church recognize that it has been pushed into the realm of the non-essentials, and to persuade it to fight like fury for the right and the duty to bring every act of America and Americans before the bar of God’s judgment. [Christian leaders] are making valiant claim to such a right and duty; but the great mass of Church members are content to regard the Church as a conglomerate of private culture clubs, nice for christenings, weddings and funerals. Most Church members readily agree with the unchurched majority that it is not the proper business of the Church to criticize America or Americans.
    ... Bernard Iddings Bell (1886-1958), God is Not Dead [1945]

---

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, awaken my people to Your wrath and Your mercy.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com

CQOD: 08/29/07 -- Watts: the divine perfections

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 29, 2007Meditation:
    I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
    -- Psalm 121:1-4 (KJV)

---

Quotation:

    The Divine Perfections.

    How shall I praise th’ eternal God,
        That Infinite Unknown?
    Who can ascend his high abode,
        Or venture near his throne?

    The great invisible! He dwells
        Conceal’d in dazzling light:
    But his all-searching eye reveals
        The secrets of the night.

    Those watchful eyes that never sleep,
        Survey the world around;
    His wisdom is the boundless deep,
        Where all our thoughts are drown’d.

    He knows no shadow of a change,
        Nor alters his decrees;
    Firm as a rock his truth remains,
        To guard his promises.

    Justice, upon a dreadful throne,
        Maintains the rights of God;
    While mercy sends her pardons down,
        Bought with a Savior’s blood.

    Now to my soul immortal King,
        Speak some forgiving word;
    Then `twill be double joy to sing
        The glories of my Lord.
        ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Hymns and Spiritual Songs [1707], Book II, #166

---

Quiet time reflection:
    I lift my voice in praise to You, O Lord.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com

CQOD: 08/28/07 -- Augustine: coming to love Thee

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 28, 2007

Feast of Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Teacher, 430

Meditation:
    But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food? Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
    -- Job 12:7-12 (NIV)

---

Quotation:
    Too late came I to love thee, O thou Beauty so ancient and so fresh, yea too late came I to love thee. And behold, thou wert within me, and I out of myself, where I made search for thee: I ugly rushed headlong upon those beautiful things thou hast made. Thou indeed wert with me; but I was not with thee: these beauties kept me far enough from thee: even those, which unless they were in thee, should not be at all.
    ... St. Augustine (354-430), Confessions [397]

---

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, when You found me at last, I truly came home.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com

CQOD: 08/27/07 -- Luther: Christ and the Bible

Christian Quotation of the Day

August 27, 2007

Feast of Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387

Meditation:
    And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.
    -- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NIV)

---

Quotation:
    Christ is the master; the Scriptures are only the servant.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546)

---

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your Scriptures speak abundantly of Christ, to my eternal benefit.

---

---

See Believer's Desktop Companion 2007
    http://www.cqod.com/cqoddtcb.html

---

CQOD Compilation Copyright 2007, Robert McAnally Adams, Curator
CQOD Home Page:    http://www.cqod.com/
Subscription info: http://www.cqod.com/cqodlist.htm
Comments and problems: email to curator@cqod.com