Saturday, May 08, 2010

Law: the piety of the Gospel

Saturday, May 8, 2010
    Feast of Juliana of Norwich, Mystic, Teacher, c.1417
Meditation:
    “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
    —Obadiah 3-4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Whilst pride, sensuality, covetousness, and ambition, had only the authority of the heathen world, Christians were thereby made more intent upon the contrary virtues. But when pride, sensuality, covetousness, and ambition, have the authority of the Christian world, then private Christians are in the utmost danger, not only of being shamed out of the practice, but of losing the very notion of the piety of the Gospel.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life [1728], London: Methuen, 1899, p. 323-324 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen Your people for self-control.
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Friday, May 07, 2010

Elliot: fresh terms

Friday, May 7, 2010
Meditation:
    [Stephen:] “This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’ He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.”
    —Acts 7:37-38 (NIV)
Quotation:
    For my generation I must have the oracles of God in fresh terms.
    ... Jim Elliot (1927-1956), The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. Elisabeth Elliot, Revell, 1990, p. 166 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word is truth; show me how to speak it to Your people.
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Thursday, May 06, 2010

Cowper: the weakest saint

Thursday, May 6, 2010
Meditation:
    Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
    —Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.
    ... William Cowper (1731-1800), The Works of William Cowper: his life, letters, and poems, New York: R. Carter & Brothers, 1851, p. 676 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You strengthen Your people through prayer.
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Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Tyndale: all service pleasing to God

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
    —Luke 13:30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Now if thou compare deed to deed, there is difference betwixt washing of dishes, and preaching of the word of God; but as touching to please God, none at all: for neither that nor this pleaseth, but as far forth as God hath chosen a man, hath put his Spirit in him, and purified his heart by faith and trust in Christ.
    Let every man therefore wait on the office wherein Christ hath put him, and therein serve his brethren.
    ... William Tyndale (1492?-1536), “Parable of the Wicked Mammon” [1527], in Doctrinal Treatises and Introductions, Cambrodge: The University Press, 1848, p. 102 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a willing heart to do the service You have appointed me to.
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Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Dod: the end of afflictions

Tuesday, May 4, 2010
    Feast of English Saints & Martyrs of the Reformation
Meditation:
    Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
    —1 Peter 4:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions.
    ... John Dod (c.1549-1645), quoted in The Lives of the Puritans, v. III, Benjamin Brook, London: J. Black, 1813, p. 3 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Through Your chastening, Lord, I come to know that I am Your child.
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Monday, May 03, 2010

Tauler: if you could do it yourself...

Monday, May 3, 2010
Meditation:
    And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
    —Hebrews 13:12-14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Generous love makes [a good man] hold others innocent in his heart; even when he sees infirmity or fault in his neighbour, he reflects that very likely all is not as it seems on the outside, but the act may have been done with a good intention; or else he thinks that God may have permitted it to take place for an admonition and lesson to himself; or again, as an opportunity for him to exercise self-control, and to learn to die unto himself by the patient endurance of and forbearance towards the faults of his neighbours, even as God has often borne many wrongs from him and had patience with his sins. And this would often tend more to his neighbour’s improvement than all the efforts he could make for it in the way of reproofs or chastisements, even if they were done in love, (though indeed we often imagine that our reproofs are given in love, when it is in truth far otherwise). For I tell thee, if thou couldst conquer thyself by long-suffering and gentleness and the pureness of thy heart, thou wouldst have vanquished all thine enemies.
    ... Johannes Tauler (ca. 1300-1361), The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler of Strasbourg, Charles Kingsley, pref. & Susanna Winkworth, tr., New York: Wiley & Halsted, 1858, “Sermon for St. Peter’s Day”, p. 463 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Teach me, Lord, to be holy.
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Sunday, May 02, 2010

Schaeffer: the place for the chasm

Sunday, May 2, 2010
    Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher, 373
Meditation:
     These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
    —Titus 2:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Those on both sides who continue to hold to the historic view concerning the Bible should say “I’m sorry” where it is needed. Both sides should let history be history and not reopen the old sores, except to learn not to repeat the same mistakes in an even more complicated and subtle age. The broader group should realize that a line must be drawn with love, yet drawn. The other side should realize that harshness is not to be confused with standing for holiness and that, in an age like our own, surrounded by a relativistic culture and by a relativistic church, which bends the Bible to the changing whims of this age, the chasm should be kept in the right place, with all our strongly believed-in distinctives on this side of the chasm, rather than making the distinctives the chasm.
    ... Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-1984), foreword to Foundation of Biblical Authority, ed. James Montgomery Boice, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978, p. 18-19 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Unveil our eyes, Lord, that we may see and know the unity that You have provided for us.
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