Barth: in the Presence

Saturday, January 7, 2012
Meditation:
    For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
    —2 Corinthians 1:19-20 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If we do not pray, we fail to realize that we are in the presence of God.
    ... Karl Barth (1886-1968), Prayer, Westminster John Knox Press, 2002, p. 15 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me an attitude of prayer wherever I go. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brainerd: where to advance the kingdom

Friday, January 6, 2012
    EPIPHANY
Meditation:
    When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
    —Luke 5:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Of late, I have thought much of having the kingdom of Christ advanced in the world; but now I saw I had enough to do within myself. The Lord be merciful to me a sinner, and wash my soul!
    ... David Brainerd (1718-1747), entry for April 8, 1743, Memoirs of the Rev. David Brainerd, New Haven: S. Converse, 1822, p. 96 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I long for the day when You finish the work You began in me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Joad: faith and reason

Thursday, January 5, 2012
Meditation:
    Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise.
    —1 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Intellect can light up only a small area of the universe. For my part, I should subscribe to the familiar paradox that the more we know, the more we are conscious of our ignorance; the further the intellect has traveled, the smaller it seems relatively to the distance still to be traveled... The intellect does, indeed, take us part of the way; we have no other mode of conveyance; and, in taking us as far as it does, it justifies us in taking the rest on trust... In following the religious account of the universe beyond the point at which it leaves reason behind, and trusting to it as an explanation of the many things that pass our understanding, we are accepting on faith conclusions which are not demonstrated by reason. In other words, we are acting as if a hypothesis were true which, at the moment at which we act upon it, is still a hypothesis and not a truth. Nevertheless, it is, I suggest, knowledge, the knowledge which we possess already and which reason has won for us, that makes it reasonable to do so.
    ... C. E. M. Joad (1891-1953), The Recovery of Belief, London: Faber and Faber, 1952, p. 19-20 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have granted Your people the means to have true wisdom. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Carson: the softened gospel

Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Meditation:
    Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”
    —John 8:42-45 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is vitally important to recognize that philosophical pluralism has exerted a dramatic “softening” influence on many people who would disavow radical religious pluralism. It is hard, for instance, to deny the influence of pluralism on evangelical preachers who increasingly reconstruct the “gospel” along the lines of felt needs, knowing that such a presentation will be far better appreciated than one that articulates truth with hard edges (i.e., that insists that certain contrary things are false), or that warns of the wrath to come. How far can such reconstruction go before what is preached is no longer the gospel in any historical or biblical sense?
    ... D. A. Carson (b. 1946), The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism [1996], Zondervan, 2002, p. 30 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, enable Your people to speak the undiluted Gospel. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Flavel: discovering God's will

Tuesday, January 3, 2012
    Commemoration of Gladys Aylward, Missionary in China, 1970
Meditation:
    Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.”
    —John 7:16-18 (NIV)
Quotation:
    If, therefore, in doubtful cases, you would discover God’s will, govern yourselves in your search after it by these rules.
    1. Get the true fear of God upon your hearts; be really afraid of offending him; God will not hide his mind from such a soul...
    2. Study the word more, and the concerns and interests of the world less. The word is a light to your feet...
    3. Reduce what you know into practice, and you shall know what is your duty to practise...
    4. Pray for illumination and direction in the way that you should go; beg the Lord to guide you in straits, and that he would not suffer you to fall into sin...
    5. And this being done, follow providence so far as it agrees with the word, and no farther. There is no use to be made of providence against the word, but in subserviency to it.
    ... John Flavel (1628-1691), Divine Conduct [1677], in The Whole Works of the Reverend Mr. John Flavel, v. IV, London: J. Mathews, 1799, p. 470 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have given us Your true word. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Gregory of Nazianzus

Monday, January 2, 2012
    Feast of Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Teachers, 379 & 389
    Commemoration of Seraphim, Monk of Sarov, Mystic, Staretz, 1833
Meditation:
    But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
    —Hebrews 2:9 (NIV)
Quotation:
    What He was, He laid aside; what He was not, He assumed.
    ... St. Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389/390), Oration 37.2, quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament, v. IVa, John 1-10, Joel C. Elowsky & Thomas C. Oden, InterVarsity Press, 2006, p. 14 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have truly become one of us. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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John Chrysostom: good resolutions

Sunday, January 1, 2012
    Feast of the Naming & Circumcision of Jesus
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
    —John 15:2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    When we once begin to form good resolutions, God gives us every opportunity of carrying them out.
    ... St. John Chrysostom (345?-407), quoted in Catena aurea, v. IV, part 1, Thomas Aquinas, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1845, p. 67 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Thank You, Lord, that You use Your people for Your purposes. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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