Jones: the converted minority

Saturday, February 19, 2011
Meditation:
    Then [Jesus] left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
    He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
    “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.”
    —Matthew 13:36-41 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian church with all its faults is the greatest serving institution on earth. It has many critics, but no rivals in the work of human redemption... No other institution has done anything like it—none whatever. The fact that the church has been able to survive the dead weight of a large proportion of its membership unconverted is a proof of its essential soundness and vitality. A minority of converted people keep its soul alive.
    ... E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973), Conversion, New York: Abingdon Press, 1959, p. 225 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have enabled Your church to demonstrate the gospel through good works. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Law: the fallen spirit within

Friday, February 18, 2011
Meditation:
    Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine. They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.
    —Isaiah 5:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Though the light and comfort of the outward world, keeps even the worst men from any constant strong sensibility of that wrathful, fiery, dark, and self-tormenting nature, that is the very essence of every fallen, unregenerate soul; yet every man in the world has, more or less, frequent and strong intimations given him, that so it is with him, in the inmost ground of his soul.
    How many inventions are some people forced to have recourse to, [in order] to keep off a certain inward uneasiness, which they are afraid of, and know not whence it comes? Alas, it is because there is a fallen spirit, a dark, aching fire within them, which has never had its proper relief, and is trying to discover itself, and calling out for help, at every cessation of worldly joy.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), Christian Regeneration [1739], in Works of Rev. William Law, v. V, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 140 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have rescued me from a dissipated life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Eckhart: rapture forgone

Thursday, February 17, 2011
    Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, Martyr, 1977
Meditation:
    If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
    —1 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If a man is in a rapture, like St. Paul, and becomes aware of some sick person wanting of him just a sup of broth, it seems to me far better of thy charity to forgo thy rapture and serve the needy in a loftier love.
    ... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?), Works of Meister Eckhart, London: J. M. Watkins, 1924, p. 14 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, replace my self-absorption with love. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: let the cup pass

Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
    —Matthew 21:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There are, no doubt, passages in the New Testament which may seem at first sight to promise an invariable granting of our prayers. But that cannot be what they really mean. For in the very heart of the story we meet a glaring instance to the contrary. In Gethsemane the holiest of all petitioners prayed three times that a certain cup might pass from Him. It did not. After that the idea that prayer is recommended to us as a sort of infallible gimmick may be dismissed.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), “The Efficacy of Prayer” in The World’s Last Night [1960], Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, p. 5 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, subordinate my desires to Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Yaconelli: unfair, indeed

Tuesday, February 15, 2011
    Commemoration of Thomas Bray, Priest, Founder of SPCK, 1730
Meditation:
    Then [the criminal] said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
    —Luke 23:42-43 (NIV)
Quotation:
    How unfair! Shouldn’t the thief have been asked to repent, to make amends, to at least declare he was sorry? No lectures, no sermons, no teaching or demands for repentance, Jesus just ushers the man into the kingdom of God. Shouldn’t we be more careful with the requirements for receiving grace? Apparently not.
    ... Mike Yaconelli (1942-2003), Messy Spirituality [2002], Zondervan, 2007, p. 166 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone choose those who You save. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Saphir: not the doctrine, but the Person

Monday, February 14, 2011
    Feast of Cyril & Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869 & 885
    Commemoration of Valentine, Martyr at Rome, c.269
Meditation:
    He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
    —John 1:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There was no point of controversy between Jesus and the Jews; Jesus brought no new doctrine unto them. Jesus said, What the masters in Israel teach, what the Pharisees and the Scribes teach, is perfectly correct. There was no dogma which was the cause of controversy between Jesus and the nation; there was no new custom that Jesus introduced: He went into the Temple every day, He observed the ordinances and festivals of Israel. What was the subject of dispute and controversy between Jesus and the Jews? It was no doctrine, it was no innovation, it was Jesus Himself whom they rejected. There was an antipathy in them to the person of Jesus: it was the Lord Himself whom they hated, because they hated the Father...
    But Jesus knew... that it was because He was one with God, because He was the express image of His being, because He was the perfect manifestation of the character of God, that they hated Him; and therefore Jesus was pained, not because they hated Him, but because they hated in Him the Father.
    ... Adolph Saphir (1831-1891), Christ and Israel, London: Morgan and Scott, 1911, p. 122-123 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, keep before me the truth Your identity. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ryle: looking forward

Sunday, February 13, 2011
Meditation:
    ... [Job] said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
    —Job 1:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [Continued from yesterday] Let us remember it as we look forward to the days yet to come. We know not what they may be: bright or dark, many or few. But we do know that we are in the hands of Him who does all things well! He will not err in any of His dealings with us. He will take away and give,—He will afflict and bereave,—He will move and He will settle, with perfect wisdom, at the right time, in the right way. The great Shepherd of the sheep makes no mistakes! He leads every lamb of His flock by the right way, to the city of habitation.
    We shall never see the full beauty of these words, until the resurrection morning. We shall then look back over our lives, and know the meaning of everything that happened from first to last. We shall remember all the way by which we were led, and confess that all was “well done!” The why and the wherefore, the causes and the reasons of everything which now perplexes, will be as clear and plain as the sun at noon-day. We shall wonder at our own past blindness, and marvel that we could ever have doubted our Lord’s love!
    ... J. C. Ryle (1816-1900), Expository thoughts on the Gospels, with the text complete, St. Mark, Ipswitch: William Hunt, 1857, p. 152 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have guided me all my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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