Pike: the limits of the human mind

Saturday, July 17, 2010
Meditation:
    ... the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
    —Romans 8:7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Every logical position ... will eventually lead into trouble, and heresy, and chaos. Every logical position is fully consistent, but coherence arises from the human mind, not God’s. The human mind is finite and cannot grasp eternity, and therefore the finite mind sees the infinite as not graspable coherently. If we could grasp it all coherently, without contradiction, we would be God. The person who insists on being logical to the end winds up in a mess. I am not saying that we should not be rational. I am not anti-intellectual. I am saying that the intellect by itself is helpless to arrive at total truth.
    ... Kenneth L. Pike (1912-2001), Stir, Change, Create, p. 44 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You lead Your people out of darkness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: love eternal

Friday, July 16, 2010
    Commemoration of Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury, 1099
Meditation:
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
    give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
    his faithfulness continues through all generations.
    —Psalm 100:4-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Be persuaded, timid soul, that He has loved you too much to cease loving you.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Selections from Fénelon, ed. Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston: Roberts Bros., 1879, p. 188 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your people are secure in Your love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Dohnavur Fellowship motto

Thursday, July 15, 2010
    Commemoration of Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, c.862
    Commemoration of Bonaventure, Franciscan Friar, Bishop, Peacemaker, 1274
Meditation:
    And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
    —2 Corinthians 4:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We preach Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
    ... Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), motto of the Dohnavur Fellowship
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the servant’s heart. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Watts: Hosannah to the King

Wednesday, July 14, 2010
    Feast of John Keble, Priest, Poet, Tractarian, 1866
Meditation:
    “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
    —Revelation 4:11 (NIV)
Quotation:
Hosanna to the King
Of David’s ancient blood;
Behold, he comes to bring
Forgiving grace from God:
    Let old and young
    Attend his way,
    And at his feet
    Their honors lay.

Glory to God on high;
Salvation to the Lamb;
Let earth, and sea, and sky,
His wondrous love proclaim:
    Upon his head
    Shall honors rest,
    And every age
    Pronounce him bless’d.
    ... Isaac Watts (1674-1748), Hymns and Spiritual Songs [1707], in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, ed. Samuel Melanchthon Worcester, Boston: Crocker & Brewster, 1834, book 3, hymn 45, p. 496 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Hallelujah!

CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wells: the greatness of Jesus

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.”
    —Luke 6:24-25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He was too great for his disciples. And in view of what he plainly said, is it any wonder that all who were rich and prosperous felt a horror of strange things, a swimming of their world at his teaching? Perhaps the priests and the rich men understood him better than his followers. He was dragging out all the little private reservations they had made from social service into the light of a universal religious life. He was like some terrible moral huntsman digging mankind out of the snug burrows in which they had lived hitherto. In the white blaze of this kingdom of his there was to be no property, no privilege, no pride and precedence; no motive indeed and no reward but love. Is it any wonder that men were dazzled and blinded and cried out against him? Even his disciples cried out when he would not spare them the light. Is it any wonder that the priests realized that between this man and themselves there was no choice but that he or priestcraft should perish? Is it any wonder that the Roman soldiers, confronted and amazed by something soaring over their comprehension and threatening all their discipline, should take refuge in wild laughter, and crown him with thorns and robe him in purple and make a mock Caesar of him? For to take him seriously was to enter upon a strange and alarming life, to abandon habits, to control instincts and impulses, to essay an incredible happiness... Is it any wonder that to this day this Galilean is too much for our small hearts?
    ... H. G. Wells (1866-1946), The Outline of History, v. II [1920], The Review of Reviews Co., 1922, p. 598-599 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, the world cannot ignore Jesus, because Your Spirit moves among the people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Beza: complete the work

Monday, July 12, 2010
Meditation:
    We proclaim [Christ], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
    —Colossians 1:28-29 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Cover, Lord, what has been: govern what shall be. Oh, perfect that which Thou hast begun, that I suffer not shipwreck in the haven.
    ... Theodore Beza (1519-1605), his last words, quoted in The Last Hours of Eminent Christians, Henry Clissold, London: Rivingtons, 1829, p. 169 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, even when I am discouraged, Your Spirit is working through the Gospel to complete me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Robinson: religiosity in Christian dress?

Sunday, July 11, 2010
    Feast of Benedict of Nursia, Father of Western Monasticism, c.550
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
    “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
    —Matthew 25:37-40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The test of worship is how far it makes us more sensitive to the “beyond in our midst,” to the Christ in the hungry, the naked, the homeless, and the prisoner. Only if we are more likely to recognize him there after attending an act of worship is that worship Christian rather than a piece of religiosity in Christian dress.
    ... John A. T. Robinson (1919-1983), Honest to God, London: SCM Press, 1963, Westminster John Knox Press, 2003, p. 90 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to true worship of You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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