Robertson: blessing man

Saturday, April 13, 2013
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
    —Luke 6:27-28 (NIV)
Quotation:
    To recognize with delight all high, and generous, and beautiful actions; to find a joy even in seeing the good qualities of your bitterest opponents, and to admire those qualities even in those with whom you have least sympathy—this is the only spirit which can heal the love of slander and of calumny. If we would bless God, we must first learn to bless man, who is made in the image of God.
    ... Frederick W. Robertson (1816-1853), Sermons Preached at Trinity Chapel, Brighton, v. III, Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1859, p. 60-61 (see the book)
    See also Luke 6:27-28; Ps. 34:12-13; 52:4; Pr. 24:17-18; Matt. 5:11,43-45; Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60; Rom. 3:13; 12:14; Eph. 4:31; Phil. 4:8; Tit. 3:1-2; Jas. 3:5-6; 4:11; 1 Pet. 3:10,15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart to bless those who oppose me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Smith: oneness with Christ

Friday, April 12, 2013
Meditation:
    And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
    —1 John 4:16-17 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is out of the question to be one with Him in any other way than in the way of nature, and character, and life. Unless we are Christ-like in our thoughts and our ways, we are not one with Him, no matter how we feel.
    ... Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911), Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, London: F. E. Longley, 1876, p. 130 (new ed.) (see the book)
    See also 1 John 4:16-17; Matt. 10:37-38; John 6:53-56; 14:23; Rom. 8:10-11,29; 12:2; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 2:5-7; 3:10-11; 1 John 3:2; 4:12-15
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, strengthen my desire to be one with You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Machen: trust

Thursday, April 11, 2013
    Commemoration of George Augustus Selwyn, first Bishop of New Zealand, 1878
Meditation:
    And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
    —2 Timothy 1:11-12 (NIV)
Quotation:
    It is vain, then, to speak of reposing trust in the Person without believing the message. For trust involves a personal relation between the one who trusts and him in whom the trust is reposed. And in this case the personal relation is set up by the blessed theology of the Cross.
    ... J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937), Christianity and Liberalism, The Macmillan Company, 1923, p. 44 (see the book)
    See also 2 Tim. 1:11-12; Ps. 9:10; 31:5; Isa. 53:1; John 1:11-13; Rom. 10:12-15; Phil. 3:8-11
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I trust in You because of Your Cross. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Law: making man heavenly

Wednesday, April 10, 2013
    Feast of William Law, Priest, Mystic, 1761
    Commemoration of William of Ockham, Franciscan Friar, Philosopher, Teacher, 1347
    Commemoration of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Priest, Scientist, Visionary, 1955
Meditation:
    [Jesus:] “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
    —John 12:24-25 (NIV)
Quotation:
    This Spirit of love, born of that celestial fire, with which Christ baptizes his true disciples, is alone that Spirit which can enter into heaven, and therefore is that Spirit which is to be born in us whilst we are on earth; for no one can enter into heaven, till he is made heavenly, till the Spirit of heaven is entered into him; and therefore all that our Lord hath said of denying and dying to self, and of his parting with all that he hath, are practices absolutely necessary from the nature of the thing.
    ... William Law (1686-1761), The Spirit of Love [1752-4], in Works of Rev. William Law, v. VIII, London: G. Moreton, 1893, p. 73 (see the book)
    See also John 12:24-25; Matt. 3:11; 5:20; 16:24; 18:3-4; John 3:3-5; Rom. 6:6-7; 1 Cor. 6:9-10; 15:31; Gal. 2:20; 5:24; 1 Pet. 2:24
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, make me fit for heaven. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Bonhoeffer: the community of the Beatitudes

Tuesday, April 9, 2013
    Feast of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Teacher, Martyr, 1945
Meditation:
    “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”
    —Revelation 22:14 (NIV)
Quotation:
    Having reached the end of the Beatitudes, we naturally ask if there is any place on this earth for the community which they describe. Clearly, there is one place, and only one, and that is where the poorest, meekest, and most sorely tried of all men is to be found—on the cross at Golgotha. The fellowship of the Beatitudes is the fellowship of the Crucified. With him it has lost all, and with him it has found all.
    ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), The Cost of Discipleship, Simon and Schuster, 1959, p. 113-114 (see the book)
    See also Rev. 22:14; Matt. 5:3-12; John 14:21-23; Rom. 4:6-9; 1 John 3:23-24; 5:3-4
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, I cling to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Cecil: the foundation

Monday, April 8, 2013
    Commemoration of William Augustus Muhlenberg of New York, Priest, 1877
Meditation:
    By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
    —1 Corinthians 3:10-11 (NIV)
Quotation:
    We cannot build too confidently on the merits of Christ, as our only hope; nor can we think too much of the mind that was in Christ, as our great example.
    ... Richard Cecil (1748-1810), The Works of the Rev. Richard Cecil, v. III, Boston: Crocker and Brewster, 1825, p. 144 (see the book)
    See also 1 Cor. 3:10-11; Isa. 28:16; Acts 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 2:16; 3:12-15; 11:1; Eph. 2:19-20; Phil. 2:5-7; 1 Tim. 1:16; 2 Tim. 2:19; 1 Pet. 2:6-8,21
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You are the rock on which I stand. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt

Thomas a Kempis: in the sight of God

Sunday, April 7, 2013
Meditation:
The LORD is in his holy temple;
    the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
    his eyes examine them.
    —Psalm 11:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    He has great tranquillity of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men. He will easily be content and pacified, whose conscience is pure. You are not holier if you are praised, nor the more worthless if you are found fault with. What you are, that you are; neither by word can you be made greater than what you are in the sight of God.
    ... Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ [1418], Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, 1877, II.vi.2, p. 93 (see the book)
    See also Ps. 11:4; 139:1; Pr. 25:27; Matt. 6:1-2; Luke 16:15; John 5:41-44; 7:18; 12:42-43; Gal. 1:10; 1 Thess. 2:4-7; 1 Tim. 1:5; 3:9; 1 Pet. 3:15-16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, you know exactly who I am. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
    search    script    mobile
sub    fb    twt