Saturday, November 28, 2009

Taylor: Lord, come away

Saturday, November 28, 2009
Meditation:
    When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
    “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
        “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
    Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
    “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
    —Luke 19:37-40 (NIV)
Quotation:
        Lord, come away;
        Why dost thou stay?
Thy road is ready and thy paths made straight
            With longing expectations wait
    The consecration of thy beauteous feet.
Ride on triumphantly: behold, we lay
Our lusts and proud wills in thy way.
Hosannah! welcome to our hearts: Lord, here
Thou hast a temple, too, and full as dear
As that of Sion; and as full of sin;—
Nothing but thieves and robbers dwell therein,
Enter, and chase them forth, and cleanse the floor;
Crucify them, that they may never more
        Profane that holy place
        Where thou hast chose to set thy face.
And then if our stiff tongues shall be
Mute in the praises of thy deity,
        The stones out of the temple wall
        Shall cry aloud and call
Hosannah! and thy glorious footsteps greet.
    ... Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D., v. XV, London: Ogle, Duncan & Co., 1822, p. 77 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have conquered our hearts of stone.
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Friday, November 27, 2009

Mooneyham: statistics for eternity only

Friday, November 27, 2009
Meditation:
    “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
    —Luke 4:18-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A gospel which does not express itself to the physical needs of man is a gospel not worthy of the name... Man is a whole person, with body and soul. Some evangelicals act as if people are disembodied souls, statistics for eternity only.
    ... Stan Mooneyham, former president, World Vision US, in a private communication from World Vision
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have provided salvation for the whole man.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Liguori: thanks for what we have received

Thursday, November 26, 2009
    Thanksgiving (U.S.)
Meditation:
    Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
    —1 Thess. 5:18
Quotation:
    Who is there that ever receives a gift and tries to make bargains about it? Let us, then, return thanks for what He has bestowed on us... Who can tell whether, if we had had a larger share of ability [or] stronger health, ... we should not have possessed them to our destruction.
    ... Alphonsus de Liguori (1696-1787), The Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, v. II, Redemptorist Fathers, p. 372 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me a fit receptacle for Your Gifts.
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Aquinas: Scriptures and truth

Wednesday, November 25, 2009
    Commemoration of Katherine of Alexandria, Martyr, 4th century
Meditation:
    The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.
    —2 Chronicles 36:15-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In questions of this sort there are two things to be observed. First, that the truth of Scripture be inviolably maintained. Secondly, since Scripture doth admit of diverse interpretations, that no one cling to any particular exposition with such pertinacity, that if what he supposed to be the teaching of Scripture, should afterward turn out to be clearly false, he should nevertheless still presume to put it forward; lest thereby the sacred Scriptures should be exposed to the derision of unbelievers and the way of salvation should be closed to them.
    ... Thomas Aquinas (1225?-1274), Summa Theologica [1274], Pars Prima, Quaest. lxviii, art. primus (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that what I proclaim shall be Your word and not my opinion only.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Phillips: grace to the wicked

Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Meditation:
    But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
    —Luke 6:35 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Jesus once declared that God is “kind toward the unthankful and evil” (St. Luke 6:35), and I remember preaching a sermon on this text to a horrified and even astonished congregation who simply refused to believe (so I gathered afterwards) in this astounding liberality of God. That God should be in a state of constant fury with the wicked seemed to them only right and proper, but that God should be kind towards those who were defying or disobeying His laws seemed to them a monstrous injustice. Yet I was but quoting the Son of God Himself, and I only comment here that the terrifying risks that God takes are part of His Nature. We do not need to explain or modify His unremitting love towards mankind.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole, London: Highway Press, 1952, p. 27-28 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we so little acknowledge Your grace towards us all.
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Monday, November 23, 2009

Lindskoog: God's reality

Monday, November 23, 2009
    Commemoration of Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr, c.100
Meditation:
    The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
    —Genesis 2:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There are great limits upon the human imagination. We can only rearrange the elements God has provided. No one can create a new primary color, a third sex, a fourth dimension, or a completely original animal. Even by writing a book, planting a garden, or begetting a child, we never create anything in the strict sense; we only take part in God’s creation.
    ... Kathryn Lindskoog (1934-2003), C. S. Lewis, Mere Christian, Glendale, Cal.: G/L Publications, 1973, reprint, Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1981, p. 48 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we acknowledge that You are the originator of all that is.
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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Lewis: power's outer limits

Sunday, November 22, 2009
    Commemoration of Cecilia, Martyr at Rome, c.230
    Commemoration of Clive Staples Lewis, Spiritual Writer, 1963
Meditation:
    Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”
    —Genesis 18:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God’s omnipotence means [His] power to do all that is not intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him, but not nonsense. This is no limit to His power. If you choose to say, “God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it,” you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words “God can.” It remains true that all things are possible with God: the intrinsic impossibilities are not things but nonentities. It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives—not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Problem of Pain, New York: Macmillan, 1944, p. 16 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, what You have promised, You will do.
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