Lewis: shadows of glory

Saturday, March 19, 2011
    Feast of Joseph of Nazareth
Meditation:
    No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
    —Revelation 22:3-5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The faint, far-off results of those energies which God’s creative rapture implanted in matter when He made the worlds are what we now call physical pleasures; and even thus filtered, they are too much for our present management. What would it be to taste at the fountain-head that stream of which even these lower reaches prove so intoxicating? Yet that, I believe, is what lies before us... As St. Augustine said, the rapture of the saved soul will “flow over” into the glorified body. In the light of our present specialized and depraved appetites, we cannot imagine this [torrent of pleasure], and I warn everyone most seriously not to try. But it must be mentioned, to drive out thoughts even more misleading—thoughts that what is saved is a mere ghost, or that the risen body lives in numb insensibility. The body was made for the Lord, and these dismal fancies are wide of the mark.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Weight of Glory, and other addresses, Macmillan Co., 1949, p. 14 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have promised us glory. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Bullock: the universe is theocentric

Friday, March 18, 2011
Meditation:
[The LORD:]
Brace yourself like a man;
    I will question you, and you shall answer me.
Would you discredit my justice?
    Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
Do you have an arm like God’s,
    and can your voice thunder like his?
    —Job 40:7-9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The God Speeches remind us that the universe is essentially theocentric. Further, although much about divine justice had not been clear to Job, God had not left the world quite so destitute of moral implications as Job had alleged. The natural world with its beauty and orderly design presents man with an indicator of an ordered moral universe even though it be beyond man’s cognitive perception. By revealing transcendence in meticulous details, the Lord simultaneously revealed His immanence. So near is He to man that He appeared to Job personally. So near is He to His world that He causes the rain to fall on the subhuman creatures even though man knows nothing about His activity there.
    ... C. Hassell Bullock (b. 1939), Introduction to the Old Testament Poetic Books, Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1979, p. 108 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have all authority, and You are present. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Caussade: blindly follow

Thursday, March 17, 2011
    Feast of Patrick, Bishop of Armagh, Missionary, Patron of Ireland, c.460
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
    —John 6:38-40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In fulfilling these duties we are always sure of possessing the “better part” because this holy will is itself the better part, it only requires to be allowed to act and that we should abandon ourselves blindly to it with perfect confidence. It is infinitely wise, powerful and amiable to those who trust themselves unreservedly to it, who love and seek it alone, and who believe with an unshaken faith and confidence that what it arranges for each moment is best, without seeking elsewhere for more or less, and without pausing to consider the connexion of these exterior works with the plans of God.
    ... Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment to Divine Providence, I.i.5 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, conform my heart to Your perfect will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kurosaki: communion with Christ

Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Meditation:
    I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
    —Philippians 4:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To have faith is to rely upon Christ, the Person, with the whole heart. It is not the understanding of the mind, not the theological opinion, not creed, not organization, not ritual. It is the koinonia of the whole personality with God and Christ. This experience of communion with Christ is itself the continual attitude of dependence on the Saviour which we call faith.
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 8 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your church relies on You for its existence and unity. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Williams: 11 marks of spiritual health

Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Meditation:
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
    —Psalm 51:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Eleven marks of spiritual health [in] matters concerning ourselves: (1) Brokenness of spirit. (2) Spiritual battles. (3) Godly loathing for sin. (4) True self-denial. (5) Willingness to stay in hard and difficult service. (6) Spiritual contentment in God’s will. (7) Joy in sorrow. (8) Christians weaned from this world’s comforts. (9) God glorified in all earthly businesses. (10) The true watch of God’s people over their tongue. (11) God’s people shun the appearance of sin.
    ... Roger Williams (1603?-1683), Experiments of Spiritual Life & Health [1652], reprinted, Sidney S. Rider, Providence, 1863, p. 31-37 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    You alone, Lord, can lead me into holiness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brooks: what Jesus would do

Monday, March 14, 2011
Meditation:
    Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
    —Matthew 5:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The wonder of the life of Jesus is this—and you will find it so and you have found it so if you have ever taken your New Testament and tried to make it the rule of your daily life—that there is not a single action that you are called upon to do of which you need be, of which you will be, in any serious doubt for ten minutes as to what Jesus Christ, if He were here, Jesus Christ being here, would have you do under those circumstances and with the materials upon which you are called to act.
    ... Phillips Brooks (1835-1893), Addresses, Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1895, p. 126 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant that I may know more of the mind of Jesus. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Fuller: but one sin more

Sunday, March 13, 2011
Meditation:
    If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.
    —1 John 5:16-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Lord, often have I thought to myself, I will sin but this one sin more, and then I will repent of it, and of all the rest of my sins together. So foolish was I, and ignorant. As if I should be more able to pay my debts when I owe more: or as if I should say, I will wound my friend once again, and then I will lovingly shake hands with him; but what if my friend will not shake hands with me?
    ... Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), Good Thoughts in Bad Times [1645], Chicago: United Society of Christian Endeavor, Boston, 1898, XXIII (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me the self-control to stop the cycle of sin. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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