Rutherford: conscience

Saturday, April 28, 2012
    Commemoration of Peter Chanel, Religious, Missionary in the South Pacific, Martyr, 1841
Meditation:
    But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
    —1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is true, terrors of conscience cast us down; and yet without terrors of conscience we cannot be raised up again.
    ... Samuel Rutherford (1600-1664), Letters of Samuel Rutherford, Edinburgh: William Whyte & Co., 1848, p. 166 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone hold out new life for Your people. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Rossetti: He died for me: what can I offer Him?

Friday, April 27, 2012
    Feast of Christina Rossetti, Poet, 1894
Meditation:
    And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
    —Revelation 5:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
“He died for me: what can I offer Him?
    Toward Him swells incense of perpetual prayer:
    His court wear crowns and aureoles round their hair:
His ministers are subtle Cherubim;
Ring within ring, white intense Seraphim
    Leap like immortal lightnings through the air.
    What shall I offer Him? defiled and bare,
My spirit broken and my brightness dim.”—
“Give Me thy youth.”—“I yield it to Thy rod,
    As Thou didst give Thy prime of youth for me.”—
        “Give Me thy life.”—“I give it breath by breath;
    As Thou didst give Thy life so give I Thee.”—
“Give Me thy love.”—“So be it, my God, my God,
    As Thou hast loved me even to bitte! r death.”
    ... Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), Poems of Christina Rossetti, London: Macmillan, 1904, p. 57 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, enable me to offer You all. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Lewis: prosperity

Thursday, April 26, 2012
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
    —Matthew 16:26 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it’ while really it is finding its place in him.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Screwtape Letters, Macmillan, 1944, p. 143 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, turn my eyes away from worldly things towards You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Underhill: faith is reality

Wednesday, April 25, 2012
    Feast of Mark the Evangelist
Meditation:
    You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
    —1 John 4:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Faith is not a refuge from reality. It is a demand that we face reality, with all its difficulties, opportunities, and implications. The true subject matter of religion is not our own little souls, but the Eternal God and His whole mysterious purpose, and our solemn responsibility to Him.
    ... Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), The School of Charity, New York: Longmans, Green, 1934, reprinted, Morehouse Publishing, 1991, p. 105 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, rebuke my self-centeredness. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Maclaren: Christ dwelling in your heart

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
    Commemoration of Mellitus, First Bishop of London, 624
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.”
    —John 6:56 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To begin with, let me say in the plainest, simplest, strongest way that I can, that that dwelling of Christ in the believing heart is to be regarded as being a plain literal fact... It is not to be weakened down into any notion of participation in His likeness, sympathy with His character, submission to His influence, following His example, listening to His instruction, or the like. A dead Plato may so influence his followers, but that is not how a living Christ influences His disciples... God means and wishes that Christ may continuously dwell in our hearts.
    ... Alexander Maclaren (1826-1910), Christ in the Heart: and other sermons, Macmillan, 1887, p. 16-19 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You have opened my heart to receive You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Marshall: the sealed orders

Monday, April 23, 2012
    Feast of George, Martyr, Patron of England, c.304
    Commemoration of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Teacher, 1988
Meditation:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will counsel you and watch over you.
    —Psalm 32:8 (NIV)
Quotation:
You are leaving port under sealed orders and in a troubled period.
You cannot know whither you are going or what you are to do.
But why not take the Pilot on board who knows the nature of your sealed orders from the outset,
    and who will shape your entire voyage accordingly?
He knows the shoals and the sandbanks, the rocks and the reefs,
He will steer you safely into that celestial harbor where your anchor will be cast for eternity.
Let His mighty nail-pierced hands hold the wheel, and you will be safe.
    ... Peter Marshall (1902-1949), John Doe, Disciple: sermons for the young in spirit, McGraw-Hill, 1963, p. 37 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    You will guide me home, Lord. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Phillips: Christianity is not a religion

Sunday, April 22, 2012
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
    —Matthew 5:48 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Suppose Christianity is not a religion at all but a way of life, a falling in love with God, and through Him, a falling in love with our fellows. Of course such a way is hard and costly, but it is also joyous and rewarding even in the here-and-now. People who follow that Way know beyond all possible argument that they are in harmony with the Purpose of God, that Christ is with them and in them as they set about His work in our disordered world.
    If anyone thinks this is perilous and revolutionary teaching, so much the better. That is exactly what they thought of the teaching of Jesus Christ. The light He brought to bear upon human affairs is almost unbearably brilliant, but it is the light of Truth, and in that light human problems can be solved.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), When God was Man, London: Lutterworth Press:, 1954, p. 26 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your word is a revolution in my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
BDTC    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt