Bonhoeffer: the bearer of the Word

Saturday, November 3, 2012
    Feast of Richard Hooker, Priest, Anglican Apologist, Teacher, 1600
    Commemoration of Martin of Porres, Dominican Friar, 1639
Meditation:
    Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
    —1 Timothy 4:13 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together [1954], tr. Daniel W. Bloesch & James H. Burtness, Fortress Press, 2004, p. 23 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I have received Your word from my brethren. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Booth: not heard the call?

Friday, November 2, 2012
    Feast of All Souls
Meditation:
    [Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
    —Mark 16:15 (NIV)
Quotation:
    “Not called,” did you say? Not heard the call, I think you should say. He has been calling loudly ever since He spoke your sins forgiven—if you are forgiven at all—entreating and beseeching you to be His ambassador. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull poor sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonised heart of humanity and listen to its pitying wail for help. Go and stand by the gates of Hell and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house, and bid their brothers, and sisters, and servants, and masters not to come there. And then look the Christ in the face, whose mercy you profess to have got, and whose words you have promised to obey, and tell Him whether you will join us heart and soul and body and circumstances in this march to publish His mercy to all the world.
    ... William Booth (1829-1912), All the World, v. I, London: Salvation Army Book Stores, 1884-1885, n.1, Nov. 1884, p. 2 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, send me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Piper: God's worldwide purpose

Thursday, November 1, 2012
    Feast of All Saints
Meditation:
    [The Lord:] “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
    —Acts 9:16 (NIV)
Quotation:
    God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose. If we do this, God’s omnipotent committment to His name will be over us like a banner, and we will not lose, in spite of many tribulations.
    ... John S. Piper (b. 1946), Let the Nations Be Glad!, Baker Academic, 2010 (3rd ed.), p. 62 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, align my will with Your own. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Spurgeon: saving grace

Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “...yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
    —John 5:40 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I will go as far as Martin Luther, in that strong assertion of his, where he says, “If any man doth ascribe aught of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright.” It may seem a harsh sentiment; but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own free-will turn to God, cannot have been taught by God, for it is one of the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither will nor power, but that he gives both; that he is “Alpha and Omega” in the salvation of men.
    ... Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), Spurgeon’s Sermons Volume 1: 1855, CCEL, Sermon 52 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I am helpless without You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Luther: hate sin

Tuesday, October 30, 2012
    Commemoration of Martin Luther, Teacher, Reformer, 1546
Meditation:
An oracle is within my heart
    concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
    before his eyes.
For in his own eyes he flatters himself
    too much to detect or hate his sin.
    —Psalm 36:1-2 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Always preach in such a way that if the people listening do not come to hate their sin, they will instead hate you.
    ... Martin Luther (1483-1546) (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I confess that I do not hate my sin enough. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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ten Boom: what to worry about

Monday, October 29, 2012
    Commemoration of James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885
Meditation:
    Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
    —James 1:22 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Don’t worry about what you do not understand of the Bible. Worry about what you do understand and do not live by.
    ... Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), Clippings from My Notebook: writings of and sayings collected, Nashville: T. Nelson, 1982, p. 53 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You convict me in my neglect of Your commands. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Wilson: forgive

Sunday, October 28, 2012
    Feast of Simon & Jude, Apostles
Meditation:
    Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
    —Romans 12:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    [On his experiences during internment by the Japanese during WWII] When I muttered “Forgive them,” I wondered how far I was being dramatic, and if I really meant it; because I looked at their faces as they stood round, taking it in turn to flog me, and their faces were hard and cruel, and some of them were evidently enjoying their cruelty. But, by the Grace of God, I saw those men not as they were, but as they had been. Once they were little children playing with their brothers and sisters—happy in their parents’ love, in those far-off days before they had been conditioned by their false nationalist ideals, and it is hard to hate little children. So I saw them not as they were, but as they were capable of becoming, redeemed by the power of Christ, and I knew that I should say “Forgive.”
    ... Leonard Wilson (1897-1970), from a broadcast address, 1946, in A Treasury of the Kingdom: an anthology, Emmeline Alethea Blackburn, ed., Oxford University Press, 1954 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart to forgive my enemies. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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