Thomas a Kempis: yielding for the fellowship

Saturday, March 12, 2011
Meditation:
    Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
    —Ephesians 5:21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    True it is that every man willingly followeth his own bent, and is the more inclined to those who agree with him. But if Christ is amongst us, then it is necessary that we sometimes yield up our own opinion for the sake of peace. Who is so wise as to have a perfect knowledge of all things? Therefore trust not too much to thine own opinion, but be ready also to hear the opinions of others. Though thine own opinion be good, yet if for the love of God thou foregoest it, and followest that of another, thou shalt the more profit thereby.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, I.ix.2, p. 41 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, restrain my vaulting pride. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Johnson: the power of God rather than man

Friday, March 11, 2011
Meditation:
    He must increase, but I must decrease.
    —John 3:30 (KJV)
Quotation:
    That God loves us in spite of our sin is the Gospel truth, but this truth can only be shared by words, since good deeds are easily [taken to show] the opposite—that we love God. Faith is not understood when [it is] only demonstrated by life. The more sanctified a life without the verbal witness, the greater the danger of the Christian’s goodness getting in the way. Should a person by the grace of God become easier to live with, he doesn’t need to call attention to it: it will speak for itself. He can instead seek to balance the reverse effect of the good image by occasionally speaking of the unfavorable realities within, those parts that are still changing. In this way, his external behavior by contrast can point to the power of God, rather than to the effort of man. When we decrease, He can increase, but not until.
    ... Paul G. Johnson (b. 1931), Buried Alive, Richmond: John Knox Press, 1968, p. 148 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may those who see me see only that I point to Thee. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Leighton: love will stammer

Thursday, March 10, 2011
Meditation:
    Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
    —1 Peter 1 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What are our lame praises in comparison with His love? Nothing, and less than nothing; but love will stammer rather than be dumb.
    ... Robert Leighton (1611-1684), A Practical Commentary Upon the First Epistle of St. Peter, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1849, p. 45 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are always greater than my praise. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Ellul: the light of Chist

Wednesday, March 9, 2011
    Ash Wednesday
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
    —John 3:20-21 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The ‘works’ done in virtue of, and in consequence of, the Christian ethic ought to appear in the light of Jesus Christ as veritable good works. Of itself the world is incapable of seeing these good works. It can only do so in this light, and we must see to it that our works proceed so directly from the action of Jesus Christ in us, that the world will see them in their true light.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), The Presence of the Kingdom, tr. Olive Wyon, Philadelphia: Wesminster Press, 1951, p. 22 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may the world begin to see the True Light. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Studdert Kennedy: the spread of evil

Tuesday, March 8, 2011
    Commemoration of Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929
Meditation:
    For [those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority] mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
    —2 Peter 2:18-19 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We have forgotten that evil is infectious, as infectious as small-pox; and we do not perceive that if we allow whole departments of our life to become purely secular, and to create and maintain moral or immoral standards of their own, in time the whole of life is bound to become corrupt.
    ... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929), The Wicket Gate, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923, p. 225-226 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have come to free sinners. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kingsley: more than a Sunday religion

Monday, March 7, 2011
    Feast of Perpetua, Felicity & their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
    —Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One good man,—one man who does not put his religion on once a week with his Sunday coat, but wears it for his working dress, and lets the thought of God grow into him, and through and through him, till everything he says and does becomes religious, that man is worth a thousand sermons—he is a living Gospel—he comes in the spirit and power of Elias—he is the image of God. And men see his good works, and admire them in spite of themselves, and see that they are Godlike, and that God’s grace is no dream, but that the Holy Spirit is still among men, and that all nobleness and manliness is His gift, His stamp, His picture; and so they get a glimpse of God again in His saints and heroes, and glorify their Father who is in heaven.
    ... Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), Twenty-five Village Sermons, London: John W. Parker, 1858, p. 197-198 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may Your Holy Spirit work within me to transmit Your light to all around me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Faber: Jesus is God! The solid earth

Sunday, March 6, 2011
Meditation:
    When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.”
    —John 13:31-32 (NIV)
Quotation:
Jesus is God! The solid earth,
    The ocean broad and bright,
The countless stars, like golden dust,
    That strew the skies at night,
The wheeling storm, the dreadful fire,
    The pleasant wholesome air,
The summer’s sun, the winter’s frost,
    His own creations were.

Jesus is God! The glorious bands
    Of golden angels sing
Songs of adoring praise to Him,
    Their Maker and their King.
He was true God in Bethlehem’s crib,
    On Calvary’s cross true God,
He who in heaven eternal reigned,
    In time on earth abode.

Jesus is God! There never was
    A time when He was not:
Boundless, eternal, merciful,
    The Word the Sire begot!
Backward our thoughts through ages stretch,
    Onward through endless bliss,—
For there are two eternities,
    And both alike are His!

Jesus is God! Alas! they say
    On earth the numbers grow,
Who His Divinity blaspheme
    To their unfailing woe.
And yet what is the single end
    Of this life’s mortal span,
Except to glorify the God
    Who for our sakes was man?
    ... Frederick William Faber (1814-1863), Hymns, New York: E. P. Dutton, 1877, p. 38 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, we praise you as God and King in the glory granted by the Father.

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