Owen: faith at death

Saturday, October 23, 2010
Meditation:
    On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.
    —Isaiah 25:7-8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Faith is the leading grace in all our spiritual warfare and conflict; but all along while we live, it hath faithful company that adheres to it, and helps it. Love works, and hope works, and all other graces,—self-denial, readiness to the cross,—they all work and help faith. But when we come to die, faith is left alone. Now, try what faith will do...
    Not to be surprised with any thing is the substance of human wisdom; not to be surprised with death is a great part of the substance of our spiritual wisdom.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), Works of John Owen, v. IX, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1851, Sermon XXVII, 1680, p. 340 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Your victory over death is final, O Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Tillotson: wickedness v. heterodoxy

Friday, October 22, 2010
Meditation:
    If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
    —1 Corinthians 13:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Men stand much upon the title of orthodox, by which is usually understood, not believing the doctrine of Christ or His apostles, but such opinions as are in vogue among such a party, such systems of divinity as have been compiled in haste by those whom we have in admiration; and whatever is not consonant to these little bodies of divinity, though possibly it agree well enough with the Word of God, is error and heresy; and whoever maintains it can hardly pass for a Christian among some angry and perverse people. I do not intend to plead for any error, but I would not have Christianity chiefly measured by matters of opinion. I know no such error and heresy as a wicked life... Of the two, I have more hopes of him that denies the divinity of Christ and lives otherwise soberly, and righteously, and godly in the world, than of the man who owns Christ to be the Son of God, and lives like a child of the devil.
    ... John Tillotson (1630-1694), Works of Dr. John Tillotson, v. IX, London: J. F. Dove, for R. Priestley, 1820, Sermon CCXXVII, p. 343 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, take my sins from my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Barth: self-revelation

Thursday, October 21, 2010
Meditation:
    Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
    Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
    —John 14:8-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    A student: “Sir, don’t you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?”
    Barth: “No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son.”
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), during his 1963 Princeton lectures
Quiet time reflection:
    Father, we know You because of Your Son. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bonhoeffer: demonstrated in Jesus' life

Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Meditation:
    Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior...
    —Titus 1:1-3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is not in our life that God’s help and presence must still be proved, but rather God’s presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ. It is, in fact, more important for us to know what God did to Israel and to His Son Jesus Christ, than to seek what God intends for us today.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 62 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have reigned supreme over all history. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: his Saviour still

Tuesday, October 19, 2010
    Feast of Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India & Persia, 1812
Meditation:
    For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
    —Romans 5:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    But must we believe that Judas, who repented even to agony, who repented so that his high-prized life, self, soul, became worthless in his eyes and met with no mercy at his own hand,—must we believe he could find no mercy in such a God? I think when Judas fled from his hanged and fallen body, he fled to the tender help of Jesus, and found it—I say not how. He was in a more hopeful condition now than during any moment of his past life, for he had never repented before. But I believe that Jesus loved Judas even when he was kissing Him with the traitor’s kiss; and I believe that He was his Saviour still.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “It Shall Not Be Forgiven”, in Unspoken Sermons [First Series], London: A. Strahan, 1867, p. 94-95 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your forgiveness is abundant. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fenelon: are we ready for inspection?

Monday, October 18, 2010
    Feast of Luke the Evangelist
Meditation:
    For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
    —Philippians 1:21-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” If He should now come, would He find it in us? What fruits of faith have we to show? Do we look upon this life only as a short passage to a better? Do we believe that we must suffer with Jesus Christ before we can reign with Him? Do we consider this world as a deceitful appearance, and death as the entrance to true happiness? Do we live by faith? Does it animate us? Do we relish the eternal truths it presents us with? Are we as careful to nourish our souls with those truths as to maintain our bodies with proper diet? Do we accustom ourselves to see all things in the light of faith? Do we correct all our judgments by it? Alas! The greater part of Christians think and act like mere heathens; if we judge (as we justly may) of their faith by their practice, we must conclude they have no faith at all.
    ... François Fénelon (1651-1715), Pious Reflections for Every Day in the Month, London: H. D. Symonds, 1800, p. 1-3 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, pour out Your gift of faith on mankind, that they may believe. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Owen: perfect peace

Sunday, October 17, 2010
    Feast of Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c.107
Meditation:
    Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
    —Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is a state of perfect peace with God to be attained under imperfect obedience.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. VIII-X, in Works of John Owen, v. XXIII, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1855, p. 251 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, incline my heart towards obedience to Your word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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