Phillips: our honour in sharing

Saturday, April 17, 2010
Meditation:
    You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
    —Hebrews 10:36 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is essential to our life as Christians, that we should recognize cheerfully and realistically that no worth-while work is accomplished without patience and sacrifice; and more important still, that we should realize with a sudden quickening of the pulses that the cost we bear is, not a kind of occupational nuisance, but the honour of sharing God’s cost in bringing men to Himself and changing them from being wayward human beings into sons of Himself.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole, London: Highway Press, 1952, p. 45 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You bore the cost that I could not pay. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Blake: recalling Luther

Friday, April 16, 2010
Meditation:
    [Jesus] replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
    —Luke 11:28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    On April 16, 1521, German reformer Martin Luther, 34, arrived at the Diet of Worms, where he afterward defended his theological position behind the “Ninety-Five Theses” (first advanced in 1517). It was at this assembly where Luther concluded his defense with the historic words: “Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders tun. Gott hilffe mir. Amen.” (“Here I stand! I can do nothing else. God help me! Amen.”)
    ... Bill Blake
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You know where every man stands. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kierkegaard: what is immortality

Thursday, April 15, 2010
Meditation:
    All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
    —Matthew 25:32 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Jesus] does not waste a word in talking about immortality, as to whether it actually is or not; he states what it is, that it is the separation between the just and the unjust.
    ... Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Christian Discourses, tr. Walter Lowrie, New York: Oxford University Press, 1961, p. 214 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your judgment is true. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the finality of choice

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Meditation:
    The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
    —2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Hear how the God of nature himself speaks of this matter: “Behold, I have set before thee life and death, fire and water,—choose whither thou wilt.” Here lies the whole of the divine mercy; ’tis all on this side the Day of Judgment: till the end of time, God is compassionate and long-suffering, and continues to every creature a power of choosing life or death, water or fire; but when the end of time is come, there is an end of choice, and the last judgment is only a putting everyone into the full and sole possession of that which he has chosen.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), An Appeal to All that Doubt [1740], in Works of Rev. William Law, v. VI, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 98 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, incline me to repentance. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gregory of Nyssa: the trustworthy charts

Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Meditation:
    After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
    —John 2:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Just as at sea those who are carried away from the direction of the harbor bring themselves back on course by a clear sign, so Scripture may guide those adrift on the sea of life back into the harbor of the divine will.
    ... St. Gregory of Nyssa (331?-396?), The Life of Moses, Paulist Press, 1978, p. 32 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your resurrection is our guiding beacon. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Betz: Jesus, historical and known by faith

Monday, April 12, 2010
Meditation:
    [Peter:] “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
    —Acts 2:36 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Without the historical Jesus, the Christ of the church is hollow, a radiant shell, a mythical hero without historical weight. On the other hand, anyone who clings to the historical Jesus alone is blind, for without the light of the Easter creed, he is swallowed up by the darkness of the cross.
    ... Otto Betz (1917-2005), What Do We Know About Jesus?, translation of Was wissen wir von Jesus?, 1965, London, S.C.M. Press, 1968, p. 113 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your victory is mine as well. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carmichael: choosing the best for us

Sunday, April 11, 2010
    Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878
Meditation:
    And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.
    —Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “I am learning never to be disappointed, but to praise,” Arnot of Central Africa wrote in his journal long ago... I think it must hurt the tender love of our Father when we press for reasons for His dealings with us, as though He were not Love, as though not He but another chose our inheritance for us, and as though what He chose to allow could be less than the very best and dearest that Love Eternal had to give.
    ... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), Rose from Brier [1933], London: SPCK, 1950, p. 116 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the mind of Christ, Who does not doubt or waver. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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