Ellul: for work

Saturday, November 17, 2012
    Feast of Hugh, Carthusian Monk, Bishop of Lincoln, 1200
Meditation:
    News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
    —Acts 11:22-24 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We sometimes confer too great importance on our individual spiritual or religious life. To be sure, each of us is of infinite worth before God, for he gave his Son to save us. But above all each of us is important for the work which God demands. The Christian is not just the man who is saved by Christ; he is the man whom God uses for the salvation of others by Christ.
    ... Jacques Ellul (1912-1994), The Judgment of Jonah, tr. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1971, p. 88-89 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, use me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Phillips: wholeness from the parts

Friday, November 16, 2012
    Feast of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, Philanthropist, Reformer of the Church, 1093
    Commemoration of Edmund Rich of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1240
Meditation:
    And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
    —1 Corinthians 12:28-30 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In his enthusiasm, the evangelist often finds it difficult seriously to imagine that anyone could be called not to be an evangelist. The man of vision and imagination finds it difficult to see the value of those who do no more than plod on faithfully along a well-tried road. The man whose concern is personal dealing with people and leading them to understand God better finds it difficult to be patient with the theologian or the Christian philosopher whose work is in the quiet of a book-lined study. Yet the truth is that the wholeness which God is working to achieve is never complete in an individual, but through individuals living together as one body, each supplying the deficiencies of the others.
    ... J. B. Phillips (1906-1982), Making Men Whole, London: Highway Press, 1952, p. 66 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me contentment with my place in Your church. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Brunner: love alone, not wrath

Thursday, November 15, 2012
Meditation:
For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
    but rejoicing comes in the morning.
    —Psalm 30:5 (NIV)
Quotation:
    One wants to have love alone, not seeing that by denying God’s holiness and wrath, God’s love is deprived of its true depth and meaning. Is it not so even in human experience? The man who cannot become angry, cannot truly love. The man who passes over treachery, infidelity, breach of confidence as if it were nothing, cannot be a true friend and cannot be faithful himself. It is here that a decision of the first order takes place: he who refuses to hear of God’s wrath, judgment and condemnation, will never understand Jesus Christ. The living God is the God whose love is united with holiness. This paradox of holiness and mercy is... the essence of the biblical doctrine of God.
    ... Emil Brunner (1889-1966), The Scandal of Christianity, London: SCM Press, 1951, reprint, John Knox Press, 1965, p. 78 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You show Your love even in affliction. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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de Caussade: submission

Wednesday, November 14, 2012
    Commemoration of Samuel Seabury, First Anglican Bishop in North America, 1796
Meditation:
    Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
    —Ephesians 5:17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Perfection does not consist in the knowledge of God’s order, but in submission to it. The order of God, the good pleasure of God, the will of God, the action of God, grace—all these are one and the same thing in this life... Perfection is nothing else than the faithful cooperation of the soul with the work of God. This ultimate purpose of our life grows and increases in our souls secretly and without our knowledge.
    ... Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751), Abandonment to Divine Providence, I.i.4 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, lead me to follow Your will. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Kurosaki: beyond creeds

Tuesday, November 13, 2012
    Feast of Charles Simeon, Pastor, Teacher, 1836
Meditation:
    As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
    —1 John 2:27 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Faith is life in Jesus Christ, and a life can never be confined within certain systems or creeds. Therefore creeds are not the end or object of faith in themselves, but expressions of our fellowship with Christ, and must not be mistaken for the object or center of our faith. Obviously the fullness of the living Christ cannot be held within the narrow limits of written creeds.
    ... Kokichi Kurosaki (1886-1970), One Body in Christ, Kobe, Japan: Eternal Life Press, 1954, ch. 2 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I acknowledge Your continual presence. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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MacDonald: dying to self

Monday, November 12, 2012
Meditation:
    For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
    —Romans 6:6-7 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Christ died to save us, not from suffering, but from ourselves; not from injustice, far less from justice, but from being unjust. He died that we might live—but live as he lives, by dying as he died who died to himself that he might live unto God. If we do not die to ourselves, we cannot live to God, and he that does not live to God, is dead.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), “Freedom”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, p. 96 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the true reason for my life. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Williams: one true God

Sunday, November 11, 2012
    Feast of Martin, Monk, Bishop of Tours, 397
Meditation:
    [The Lord:] “You shall have no other gods before me.”
    —Exodus 20:3 (NIV)
Quotation:
    The first article of Christian faith is that man has one and only one true object of worship. There is one Holy God, creator of heaven and earth. He is Lord of all life. To Him we are beholden for our life in all its meaning and its hope. Monotheism for the Christian means that anything else which is put in the place of our loyalty to God is an idol. The worship of national power, or racial prestige, or financial success, or cultural tradition, is a violation of the one truth about our life, that all created things come from God. To commit life to the one true God is to refuse to have any other gods at all. Values there are in abundance, interests, plans, programs, loyalties to family and nation. But these are not gods. They do not save us. They are not holy in themselves.
    ... Daniel Day Williams (1910-1973), Interpreting Theology, 1918-1952, Daniel Day Williams, London: SCM Press, 1953, ed. 3, under alternative title, New York: Harper, 1959, p. 21 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the one true God. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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